SOC4044 Sociological Theory: Max Weber

1. SOC4044 Sociological Theory:Max Weber © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

2. Max Weber • 1864-1920 • Pronounced “vey-bear” • German • Protestant • Mother was a strong Calvinist • Father was a German bourgeoisie politician © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

3. Max Weber • Paradigm: Pluralist • Class of Theories: Divergent Interests • Sociology is properly concerned with individuals, not just structure (Perdue 1986:173) Perdue, William D. 1986. Sociological Theory: Explanation, Paradigm, and Ideology. Palto Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

4. Max Weber:Social Action Max Weber conceived of sociology as a comprehensive science of social action. In his analytical focus on individual human actors he differed from many of his predecessors whose sociology was conceived in social-structural terms. Spencer concentrated on the evolution of the body social as analogous to an organism. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

5. Max Weber:Social Action Durkheim’s central concern was with institutional arrangements that maintain the cohesion of social structures. Marx’s vision of society was informed by his preoccupation with the conflicts between social classes within changing social structures and productive relations. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

6. Max Weber:Social Action In contrast, Weber’s primary focus was on the subjective meanings that human actors attach to their actions in their mutual orientations within specific social-historical contexts. Behavior devoid of such meaning, Weber argued, falls outside the purview of sociology. Coser (1971:217) Coser, Lewis A. 1971. Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

7. Max Weber:Social Action Review Handout Weber’s Model of Social System © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

8. Max Weber:Social Action Four Major Types of Social Action • Purposeful or Goal-oriented Rational Action • Both goal and means are rationally chosen • Example: An engineer who builds a bridge by the most efficient technique of relating means to ends © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

9. Max Weber:Social Action • Value-oriented Rational Action • Striving for a substantive goal, which in itself may not be rational but which is nonetheless pursued • Example: Attainment of salvation © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

10. Max Weber:Social Action • Emotional or Affective Motivation Action • Anchored in the emotional state of the actor rather than in the rational weighing of means and ends • Example: Participants in the religious services of a fundamentalist sect © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

11. Max Weber:Social Action • Traditional Action • Guided by customary habits of thought, by reliance on “the eternal yesterday” • Example: The behavior of members of an Orthodox Jewish congregation © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

12. Max Weber:Social Action Weber was primarily concerned with modern Western society, in which, as he saw it, behavior had come to be dominated increasingly by goal-oriented rationality, whereas in earlier periods it tended to be motivated by tradition, affect, or value-oriented rationality. His studies of non-Western societies were primarily designed to highlight this distinctive Western development. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

13. Max Weber:Social Action Karl Mannheim stated: Max Weber’s whole work is in the last analysis directed toward the question “Which social factors have brought about the rationalization of Western civilization?” © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

14. Max Weber:Ideal Types Ideal Types • An ideal type is an analytical construct that serves the investigator as a measuring rod to ascertain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases. It provide the basic method for comparative study. • An ideal type is not meant to be a moral ideal. There can be an ideal type of a brothel or a chapel. • It is not a statistical average • Average Protestants in a given region or at a give time may be quite different from ideal typical Protestants • Used to develop hypotheses © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

15. Max Weber:Ideal Types • Three levels of Ideal Types • First are the ideal types rooted in historical particularities, such as the “western city,” “the Protestant Ethic,” or “modern capitalism,” which refer to phenomena that appear only in specific historical periods and in particular cultural areas. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

16. Max Weber:Ideal Types • A second kind involves abstract elements of social reality--such concepts as “bureaucracy” or “feudalism”--that may be found in a variety of historical and cultural contexts. • Finally, there is a third kind of ideal type. . .”rationalizing reconstructions of a particular kind of behavior. According to Weber, all propositions in economic theory, for example, fall into this category. They all refer to ways in which man would behave were they actuated by purely economic motives, were they purely economic men. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

17. Max Weber:Authority Authority • Three main modes of authority (claiming legitimacy) • Rational-legal authority • Authority may be based on rational grounds and anchored in impersonal rules that have been legally enacted or contractually established. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

18. Max Weber:Authority • Traditional authority • Based on the belief in the sanctity of tradition, of “the eternal yesterday.” It is not codified in impersonal rules, but inheres in particular persons who may either inherit it or be invested with it by a higher authority • Charismatic authority • Rests on the appeal of leaders who claim allegiance because of their extraordinary virtuosity, whether ethical, heroic, or religious. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

19. Max Weber:Authority This typology of various forms of authority relations is important on several counts. Its sociological contribution rests more especially on the fact that Weber, in contrast to many political theorists, conceives of authority in all its manifestations as characteristic of the relation between leaders and followers, rather than as an attribute of the leader alone. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

20. Max Weber:Bureaucracy Bureaucracy • Formal organization of the officialdom of large-scale enterprise (e.g., government, military, economic, religious, educational), the ideal-type of such as organization characterized by: • Clearly defined division of labor • Rationality (i.e., a business-like attention to implementing goals of the organization) • Impersonal application of rules • Routinization of tasks to the degree that personnel are easily replaceable © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

21. Max Weber:Bureaucracy This bureaucratic coordination of the actions of large numbers of people has become the dominant structural feature of modern forms of organization. Only through this organizational device has large-scale planning, both for the modern state and the modern economy, become possible. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

22. Max Weber:Bureaucracy Yet Weber also noted the dysfunctions of bureaucracy. Its major advantage, the calculability of results, also causes depersonalization. It is difficult to deal with individual cases. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

23. Max Weber:Study of Religion • Major works • The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Two Parts: 1904 and 1905) • The Religion of China (1913) • The Religion of India (1916-1917) • Ancient Judaism (1917) • These major works were based on the question: Why did modern capitalism initially occur in the West and not in other parts of the world?(Turner, Beeghley, and Powers 1998:162-163) Turner, Jonathan H., Leonard Beeghley, and Charles H. Powers. 1998. The Emergence of Sociological Theory. 4th ed. Cincinnati, OH: Wadsworth Publishing Company. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

24. Max Weber:Study of Religion Review Handout Weber’s Causal Argument for the Emergence of Capitalism © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

25. Max Weber:Study of Religion The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is part of an exercise in historical hypothesis testing in which Weber constructed a logical experiment using ideal types as conceptual tools. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

26. Max Weber:Study of Religion Theology has an enormous impact on behavior---even economical and social behavior. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

27. Max Weber:Study of Religion Occupational statistics in those nations of mixed religious composition seemed to show that those in higher socioeconomic positions were overwhelmingly Protestant. Weber was not attempting to prove a relationship between Protestantism and economic success (that was a given), but rather to explain the relationship. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

28. Max Weber:Study of Religion • Weber developed a historical ideal type called Spirit of Capitalism. This ideal type has four components: • Work is valued as an end in itself • Trade and profit are indicators of personal virtue • A methodically organized life governed by reason indicates a righteous state of being • Delayed gratification is a virtue © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

29. Max Weber:Study of Religion • Weber focused on the Calvinist’s form or Protestantism • Calvinist’s theology/doctrine had four consequences on the Spirit of Capitalism: • Predestination • Lack of certainty of salvation created inner loneliness and isolation © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

30. Max Weber:Study of Religion • People looked for signs of being among the elect • Absolute duty to consider themselves chosen • Intense worldly activity creates self-confidence • All believers were expected to lead methodical and ascetic lives unencumbered by irrational emotions, superstitions, or desires of the flesh © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

31. Max Weber:Study of Religion • Why did John Wesley call his group “Methodists?” • Why do many evangelical and fundamentalist groups have “standards” and/or rules that appear rather “strict?” • No dancing • Avoid theaters, movies, dramas • No card playing, use of dice of any kind © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

32. Max Weber:Study of Religion Among the Calvinist and many of the other Protestant groups-----wealth was “automatically” accumulated through intense “economic activity” but was not to be “shown.” The accumulation was to be converted into “sound” assets. The Amish are a perfect illustration of the Spirit of Capitalism as studied by Weber. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

33. Max Weber:Study of Religion Even though the strict nature of early Protestant groups are all but gone----the residues are evident in today’s society. © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

34. Max Weber:Study of Religion Review Handout Weber’s Quasi-Experimental Design in the Study of Religion © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

35. Max Weber:Class and Status Class and Status Method for studying stratification of populations for sociological purposes. • Class • “…property…and lack of property…” is the basis of all class situations • Class is a type of socioeconomic category • Rational behavior © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

36. Max Weber:Class and Status • Status • Evaluations people make of one another • Rank order of desired behavior and traits • Value-oriented behavior © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender

37. Max Weber:Class and Status Examples If we use the class groups of low, blue collar, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, wealthy and the statuses of low, middle, high---what are the class and status levels of the following: • College Presidents • Teachers • Medical Doctors • Investment Bankers • Pastors © 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith Bolender