Max Weber

From Max Weber

Politics as a Vocation
• Weber analyze the growth and development of politics and how it
brought politics to its modern form. In order to analyze politics he lay
emphasis on the concept of state.
• If there is no institution to exercise force legitimately state will be
eliminated and anarchy will prevail.
• Weber defines state as a monopoly of legitimate physical violence
within a particular territory.
• Weber defines politics which strives to share power or to influence
the distribution of power whether between states or between groups
of people within the parameter of state.
• All political officials and their decisions in politics strive to gain power
as a mean to serve or power for sake of power.
Three ways of legitimate power and domination
• Weber then discuss three ways in which power/domination can
be legitimated.
• Traditional authority (domination patrimonial prince of yore):
authority of eternal yesterday. It is based on ancient
recognition of domination for habitual orientation to conform.
• Charismatic authority: person with extraordinary personal “gift
of grace” (charisma) based on personal devotion and
confidence in the revelation and heroism.
• Legal authority/domination: in which authority is exercised by
virtue of belief in validity of legal statutes and financial
competence based on rationally created rules but obedience is
expanded to statutory obligations.
Types of authorities
• These three types are highly significant for the structure of domination.
Weber discuss various authorities in this perspective.
1) Professional politicians: placed themselves at the royalty’s disposal have
managed their politics and have ensured both means of living and ideal
content of life.
2) occasional politicians: when we cast vote and protesting or delivering
speeches. Politics as vocation today is particular any party agents, political
associations. They are politically active on the basis of need for which
politics should not be their life politically or ideally.
• Weber classified functionaries in to two categories: administrative officials
and political officials.
1) Administrative officials: Weber referred to them “staff” administrative staff
represent the organizations of political domination. A free commune
undercomplete abolition and far reaching restrictions from princely powers
They are bound by obedience to power holders due to personal interest,
material rewards and social honor
• In modern state no single official own money, buildings, tools
and war machines which they are giving out.
• 2) Political officials: Weber describe them as someone who can
be transferred at any time at will or they can be dismissed or at
least temporarily withdrawn.
• They are elected rather than selected which means they rely on
governed for their legitimacy.
• A politician should possess three qualities passion, sense of
responsibility and sense of proportion. He should avoid vanity,
lack of objectivity and irresponsibility.
Values Needed In The Political Arena

• According to Weber, a professional politician is one who is active in

politics strives for power either as a means in serving other aims,
ideal or egoistic, or as 'power for power's sake,' that is, in order to
enjoy the prestige-feeling that power gives.
• He also noted the importance of passion, the feeling of responsibility,
and a sense of proportion.
• Politician must also combat vanity, in order to be matter-of-factly
devoted to his cause and preserve some distance, not least from him.
• Lack of objectivity and irresponsibility are the two deadly sins of
politics; vanity, the need to personally stand in the foreground, temps
the politician to commit these sins.
• A politician should be bound by ethics. The man who believes in an
ethic of responsibility takes into account precisely the average
deficiencies of people.
• He does not feel in a position to burden others with the results of his
own actions so far as he was able to foresee them; he will say, these
results are ascribed to my action.
• The ultimate ends a ''responsibility'' only to keep his intentions good.
Class Status and party
• In Marx view there are two primary groups or classes in a society. They
are bourgeoisie and proletariat classes whose contradictory role.
• In Weber’s view it is not possible to distinguish these groups on the
basis of single dimension of ownership or non-ownership.
• Weber associates pluralism with the concept of class structure is the
motive for change in capitalism.
• Power the chance of a man or a number of men to realize their own will
in a communal action even against the resistance of the others who are
participating in same action.
• Weber does not accept economic power as source of power. He rather
consider as a consequence of power exercised in some other grounds.
Class
• Class: Unlike Marx who recognize two classes bourgeoisie and
proletariat, Weber recognize the existence of other classes as well
like financers, debtors, professional groups, doctors and lawyers.
• The concept of class is connected to economic order. It is about the
distribution of resources in the community.
• Class as phenomenon of economic order works within social order.
People join community to maximize their economic interest in the
possession of good and opportunities for income. All this activity
takes place within “commodity or labor market.”
• Weber talks about class situation which is relationship of a person or
several people to a particular market which has an important effect
on the life of the people.
• Weber defines three main features of life situation.
1) Life chances where group of people in a similar situation so that
they have their life chances more or less in common for instance
ownership or non-ownership of property.
• 2) Economic interest which means in possession of goods and services
.
• 3) Markets is based on commodity or labor market.
Social status and honor

• Social status and honor The element of respect consideration

given to and received by others.
• He also looks into other existing structural orders in the society
including economic, legal and social order. ‘
• Social Order: The way in which social honor is distributed in a
community between typical groups participating in this
distribution we may call the ‘social order.’
• The social order and the economic order are, of course, similarly
related to the ‘legal order.’
However, the social and economic order are not identical.
• The economic order is merely the way in which economic goods and
services are distributed and used.
• The social order is conditioned by the economic order to a high
degree, and in its turn reacts upon it.
Status group
• Status group is connected to social order.
• Weber believes that groups are more likely to be formed on the
basis of status or status honor rather than class situation or
class.
• Status groups are formed on the basis of any characteristic
which socially recognized by others which becomes an object of
honor.
• Both propertied and property less people can belong to the
same status group, and frequently they do with very tangible
consequences.’
What guarantees the status stratification?
• There is the code linked to the identity of the specific social group,
and these social groups hence decides on the ‘social intercourse’.
• This ‘social intercourse’ is not driven on the ‘economics’ it is rather is
influenced by being belonging to a ‘status circle’.
For example, he gives the example of being in a certain neighborhood,
decides upon the ‘social status’ and thus is reflective of the particular
identity.
Social stratification
• class’ associated with the ‘economic order’ and that ‘class’ is a subset
of community.
• The ‘social status’ is associated with the ‘social order’. And, hence the
‘social status’ is tightly linked to ‘social group’ and the ‘social group’ is
the ‘community’.
• Unlike the ‘class.’ There is ‘class antagonisms’ that are ‘conditioned’
by the ‘market’ between those who are the property owners and the
property less.
• The ‘social status’ is the distribution of ‘honor’ based not on the
‘economic order’ rather it is by the ‘social order.’ When this contracts
then ‘social stratification’ starts to take place.
Parties
• Parties’ live in a house of ‘power.’ And that ‘their action is
oriented towards the acquisition of social ‘power that is to say,
toward influencing a communal action no mater what its
content may be.
• Parties are only possible in those communities which are
socialized meaning which have some rational order and a staff
of person who are ready to enforce them.
• Although parties represent the interest of class or status
situation but they are not purely inclined towards either of
them.
• They are partly class and partly status.
Bureaucracy
• Modern official functions of bureaucracy includes:
1) Fixed and official jurisdictional area ordered by rules and
regulations.
2) Distribution of official duties in a fixed way.
3) Methodical direction for fulfilment of duties.
• In modern bureaucracy public and private spheres are separate.
• We have office with graded authority and firmly ordered
system.
• Super-subordination But this supervisory authority does not
take over. It is tenured and every supervisor is replaced.
Decision can be appealed to higher authority.
• Rules are stable and exhaustive learning them is considered a special
skill.
• Management is based on written documentation and filing system.
• Expert training is expected even before one joins the service.
Appointment is usually done through special examination.
• Loyalty to the institution which includes acceptance of specific
management in returned for secure services.
• The social status of trained and qualified bureaucrats with stable jobs
enhance his status.
• Social status of officials are usually low where demands of
administrative expertize is low.
• Weber also draws distinction between elected and selected officials.
• The traditional way is selection.
• Whenever an official is elected the dynamics of hierarchy is revised as
elected officials derive their powers from people.
• On the contrary, the selected officials are purely appointed on
technical criteria. In case of elected official parties do not give priority
to expertize.
• Secured tenure protection against arbitrary dismissal in order to
guarantee strictly objective discharge of duties.
• Fixed salary old age security.
• Incentive of promotion pushes officials to gain more qualification.
Ironically highest officer i.e. does not have those expertize.