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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.

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