Max Weber

1864-1920

Rationality and
Organization
 Background
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBMNDJZHEeI&feature=fvst

 Maximilian Karl Emil "Max" Weber

 Born in Erfurt, Germany (1864)

 Well-to-do family

 Eldest of eight children

 Sickly child
 Physical problems
 Mental problems
 Background
3

 His mother (Helene Fallenstein):

 Calvinist
 Concerned with social issues
 Very religious

 His father (Max Weber):

 Politician
 Lawyer
 Self-centered and authoritarian
Mr. and Mrs. Max Weber
4
 Background
5

 Parents had marriage problems

 Different beliefs and values

 Max Weber and his brother Alfred

became sociologists and
economists.
 Max Weber
6

 Weber
Pronounced:
“vay-bear”

 Max, Alfred, and Karl ->

(1879)
 Max Weber’s Sociology
7

Concerned with individuals, as


well as social structure
Macro
Micro
 Max Weber: Sociology
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Comprehensive science of
Social Action
 Behavior versus Action
Behavior= move, react, eat etc.
 Action=Behavior + Meaning
 Different from Other Theorists
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Spencer: Evolution of society as

analogous to an organism
 Natural laws of society

Durkheim: Society as an organism

 Maintaining cohesion of social
structures
 Social Solidarity
 Different from Other Theorists
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Marx: Society influenced by economy

 Conflict between social classes

Malinowski: Society functions to meet

needs of individuals
 Holistic approach
 Max Weber: Social Action
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Weber’s primary focus:

 Subjective meanings that humans attach
to their actions and interactions
 Within specific social contexts

Behavior without meaning, is not in

the purview of sociology
 Max Weber: Social Action
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Four Major Types of Social Action

1. Traditional Action
 Guided by custom or habit
 Action is simply "always done"

 Example: Celebrating holidays

 Max Weber: Social Action
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2. Emotional or Affective Action

 Motivated by emotional state
 Love, Anger, Happiness, Revenge

 Examples:
 Going to college because your boyfriend
or girlfriend is attending that school
 Hitting a person out of anger
 Max Weber: Social Action
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3. Value-oriented Rational Action

 Working toward a goal, which may not be
rational
 But is pursued through rational means
 Values: Ethical, Religious, Philosophical
 Not rationally "chosen“

 Example: Going to college because you

value learning and knowledge
 Max Weber: Social Action
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4. Instrumental Rational
(Goal-oriented Rational Action)
 Goals & means are rationally chosen

 Example:
 Earning a college degree in order to get
a good paying job
How to get rich
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz81sLCy--c
 Max Weber: Social Action
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 Primarily concerned with modern

Western society
 Behavior increasingly dominated by
goal-oriented rationality
 In the past: Motivated by tradition,
affect, or value-oriented rationality
 Rationalization
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 Rational calculation, Efficiency,

and Control (Bureaucracy)
 Replace:
 Affective ties
 Spirituality
 Tradition
 Max Weber: Ideal Types
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An ideal type not meant to refer to “best” or

to a moral ideal
e.g., Ideal type brothel or Ideal type chapel

 Analytical construct that provides a

basic method for comparative study
 Max Weber: Ideal Types
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 Identifies “logically consistent”

features of social institution

 Compare “ideal type” to reality

 Used to develop research hypotheses

 Example of Ideal Type
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Four characteristics of Ideal type

Capitalism
1. Private ownership
Means of production
2. Pursuit of Profit

3. Competition

4. No government intervention
 TR Legitimation & Authority
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 Legitimation-> Turns coercion into

acceptable Authority
 Authority = Legitimate Power

 Three modes of authority

 1. Legal-rational

 2. Traditional

 3. Charismatic
 Max Weber: Authority
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1. Legal-rational authority
 Based on impersonal rules

 Rules are legally enacted or

contractually established

 Examples: Presidents, judges

 Max Weber: Authority
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2. Traditional authority
Based on belief in tradition
Passed down generation to
generation

 Examples: Aristocracy, Parents,

Elders
 Max Weber: Authority
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3. Charismatic authority
Allegiance to leader
Leader’s characteristics

Quality of individual's personality

Source of change

 Examples: Martin Luther King Jr.,

Gandhi
 Max Weber: Bureaucracy
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 Formal organization of large-scale

enterprises for example:
 Government
 Military
 Economy
 Religion
 Education
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCAlZPF0D0
 Max Weber: Bureaucracy
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Ideal-type Bureaucracy:
Clearlydefined division of labor
Rationality

Attention to implementing goals

of organization
Impersonal application of rules

Routinization of tasks
 Max Weber: Bureaucracy
27
Major advantage
 Calculability of results
Dysfunctions of bureaucracy
 Depersonalization
 Difficult to deal with individual cases
 Personnel are replaceable
 Information flows from top-down
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TypEb0tbFho
 George Tooker paintings illustrate rationality and modernity
MW Max Weber: Class, Status, and Party
28

Method for Studying Social Stratification:

Sources of Power
 Social Class
 “…property…and lack of property…”
 Lifechances
 Socio-economic category
Lower class
Middle class
Upper class
Sources of Power: Class, Status, & Party
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 Status
Prestige

Honor

Evaluations people make of one

another
Ranking desired behavior & traits
 2009

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 Max Weber: Party
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 Association that attempts to influence

social action
 Religious

 Political

 Age-based

 Race/Ethnicity

 Lobbyists

 Working toward a goal in a planned

manner (i.e., rationally)
 Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
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◦ Stratification theory (class, status,

party)
◦ Bureaucracy & large scale organizations
◦ Power & Authority
◦ Sociology of law
◦ Sociology of religion
 Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
Theory and Methodology
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 “Verstehen” helps in understanding

why certain behaviors occur

 Social Action: Subjective meanings

 Values: Role in relationships

 Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
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 Multi-causality of Social Phenomena

 Complete Objectivity is Impossible

◦ Values & Value relevance
 Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
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 The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of

Capitalism
◦ Cultural barriers can prevent an
economy from growing to its full
potential
 Ex: religion
 Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
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 Max Weber had more powerful positive

impact on a wide range of sociological
theories than any other sociological
theorist
 Created the German Association for
Sociology (1909)
 Starting Point for Careers:
 Karl Mannheim, Talcott Parsons, Robert
Merton and C. Wright Mills