Max Weber1864-1920 Katie GeneserHayden George

BackgroundBorn 1864, Thuringia

Father was wealthy civil servant who was highly involved in both politics and academics

For Christmas one year he wrote two analytical essays to give to his parents as gifts

Attended law school

Spent some time in the military

Background In 1893 he married Marianne Schnitger a feminist activist and author

Took a job as a professor eventually ending up at the University of Heidelberg

Early Work Early on took an interest in contemporary social policy

Felt that the role of economics was the primary source of solving social problems

InfluencesStrongly influenced by German Idealism Linked romanticism and Enlightenment politics

Kant, Freud, and Simmel

Strongly influenced by Marxs ideas of socialism and active politics Differed on the idea of utopian society

Concepts and Contributions BureaucracyPre-conditionsGrowth in space and population

Growth in complexity of the administrative tasks being carried out Existence of monetary economy, requires a more efficient administrative system

Concepts and Contributions BureaucracyCommunication and transportation policies make more efficient administration possible

Hierarchical organization

Delineated lines of authority in a fixed area of activity

Rules are implemented by neutral officials, not the power elite

Advancements depend on technical qualifications from organizations not individuals

Can be a threat to individual freedom

Concepts and ContributionsRationalization The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world

Instead of the power elite holding society back, it is the laws, rules and regulations capitalism requires

Curtails peoples freedoms and traps them in bureaucratic society

Process is less welcome of individualism and dehumanizes people

Concepts and ContributionsRationalization Zweckrational (i.e., formal) rationality. The rationality of means-ends relationships, wherein an identifiable goal is sought by pursuing reasonably defined means.

Wertrational (i.e., substantive) rationality. The rationality of non-goal oriented behavior, wherein behavior is pursued independently of the prospects of success.

Concepts and Contributions Verstehen German word for interpretive understanding

Looking at society from your own point of view rather than from that of the indigenous culture

How people give meaning to the social world around them

Gives a subjective understanding about individual and group behavior

Concepts and Contributions The Protestant Ethic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

Emphasizes hard work, frugality, and prosperity as a display as a persons salvation in the Christian faith

Societies that are more Protestant tend to be more bureaucratic than capitalist and to Weber this is a good thing

Workers are more likely to be devoted to their craft and are less alienated

Views on Society Bureaucratic SocietyRather than capitalism or communism, Weber thought society should be run through a system of well organized institutions

Society can be understood through empirical observation rather than quantitative research

Power is not just in the hands of the elite

Relevancy Influenced Parsons, Habermas, and many others

Presented sociology as the science of human social action

Developed antipositivism; stressing the differences between social and natural sciences

Weber Bureaucracies: showed how there are bureaucratic elements of every part of society

Limitations His specific explanations for society in his time are hard to generalize for other circumstances in society

Failed to see all the positive aspects of rationalization and deemed society to be doomed and trapped in an iron cage of its own making

Bureaucratic features of Webers ideal society might actually be inefficient (argued by Merton)