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max_weber [2014/10/07 20:31] – [Max Weber] Ryan Schram (admin)
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-# Max Weber # 
- 
-Max Weber is an influential theorist of society. Like [[Karl Marx]] and 
-[[Emile Durkheim]], Weber developed a way of thinking about society as a 
-system, which made it possible for people to examine social patterns 
-and behaviors and find new kinds of explanations. Unlike these other 
-key social theorists, Weber's theory of society is based on 
-action. This means that a society comes into being through the 
-individual and collective actions of its members. Social action has 
-meaning and purpose. It accomplishes something valuable for society 
-and its members in some way. Social forms, groups, identities and 
-institutions are, in that sense, embodiments of the meaningful 
-social actions of individuals and groups. 
- 
-## The four types of social action ## 
- 
-In Weber's theory, social actions can be classified according to what 
-kind of meaning they possess, and following from this, what kind of 
-motivation actors have in pursuing them. There are four types of 
-social action: 
- 
-* Traditional: I do it because this is how it has always been. 
-* Affective: I do it because it expresses my emotions. 
-* Value-rational: I do it because this is the best possible way to 
-  advance a collective goal of my society. 
-* Instrumental-rational: I do it because I get the most for the least 
-  amount of effort. 
- 
-Whole societies can be defined by the types of social actions one sees 
-in them. Here Weber is particularly controversial for several 
-reasons. Weber sees societies as falling on a scale of progress. With 
-the passage of time, societies move from a traditional orientation and 
-a traditional social organization to a modern orientation and 
-organization. In a traditional society, the main basis for action is 
-tradition, meaning specifically, a rule upheld by the group and never 
-questioned. Observing tradition is an end in itself, and maintaining 
-the past is the main orientation of all members of this society; 
-people do not seek to do things differently for any reason. In more 
-recent years, people have begun to question this view of rural and 
-kinship-based societies as too simple. 
- 
- 
-## Modernity and rationalization ## 
- 
-Weber's negative view of traditional society highlights one of his key 
-concepts: rationalization. As mentioned earlier, Weber concluded that 
-all societies develop from a traditional orientation toward a more 
-[[modernity|modern]] one. This process involves allowing people to pursue different 
-kinds of goals. The range of different kinds of social actions 
-expands, and more specialized domains develop, each fulfilling a 
-different motivation. People move away from a traditional motivation 
-for action and start to develop new ways of being in which they 
-evaluate the purpose of their actions in a different light. Most 
-importantly, people start to work toward collective goals, and 
-individuals make choices by weighing the costs versus the benefits. In 
-other words people increasingly look at their own lives in terms of 
-the means and the ends. This is what Weber means by rationalization. 
- 
-For Weber, a modern society is a highly rationalized society in which 
-all actions are evaluated in terms of means and ends, and very few 
-actions have affect and tradition as the primary motivation. A modern 
-society has many specialized institutions. Forms of behavior and 
-action which express emotion and tradition are not allowed to 
-interfere with the rational rules and systems in the business sphere 
-and the smooth functioning of bureaucracy. People in modern society 
-are expected to behave rationally and evaluate every action in terms 
-of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, at least in the spheres of 
-commerce. 
- 
-Weber's theory of society is also, in this sense, a theory of 
-modernity. Increasingly, social scientists have questioned the idea 
-that all societies change in this way. Societies do not progress from 
-tradition to modernity, at least not a single path. In so-called 
-modern societies, people have a variety of orientations, and are not 
-exclusively rational, even in their economic decisions. Also, people 
-in so-called traditional societies behave in dynamic, individualistic 
-ways, and these societies can both embrace change and adapt traditions 
-to new situations. In other words, there is a degree of rationality in 
-traditions which Weber did not recognize. 
- 
-It seems more like there are multiple modernities, and modern 
-institutions are not purely rational. Instead the same kinds of social 
-actions can be found in all societies. 
- 
-## Further reading ## 
- 
-Bellah, Robert N. 1957. Tokugawa Religion: The Values of 
-Pre-Industrial Japan. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press. 
- 
-Elwell, Frank. 1996. “Verstehen: The Sociology of Max Weber.” Rogers 
-State University Faculty 
-Pages. http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Weber/SocOfWeber.htm. 
- 
-Weber, Max. 1905. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of 
-Capitalism. New York: Allen and 
-Unwin. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/weber/protestant-ethic/index.htm. 
- 
-———. 1946. “Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions.” 
-In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, edited by C. Wright Mills and 
-H. H. Gerth, 323–59. New York: Oxford University Press. 
  
max_weber.txt · Last modified: 2021/07/08 00:28 by Ryan Schram (admin)