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German sociologist and political economist who was born in Erfurt, Prussia Germany on April 21, 1864. Best known for his thesis of the "Protestant Ethic," relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. In 1882, Weber enrolled at the University of Heidelberg mid- and late-20s working simultaneously in two totally not remunerative apprenticeships--as a lawyer's assistant and as a university assistant--he was financially unable to leave home until the autumn of 1893. At that time he received a temporary position in jurisprudence at the University of Berlin He became a full professor in political economy at Freiburg, and then, in the following year (1896), at Heidelberg In the months following his father's death in August 1897, an increasing nervousness plagued the young scholar. His return to teaching in the autumn brought a brief respite, which ended in the first months of 1898 with the first signs of the nervous collapse that was to prostrate him between mid-1898 and 1903

Weber Family

Mother: Helene Weber, a sociologist who was raised in Calvinist orthodoxy

Father: Max Sr. was in the textile business and went on to become a National Liberal parliamentarian of some recognizable influence in Wilhelmine politics.

Weber Family

Siblings: Max, Alfred and Karl. Max was eldest son of an aspiring liberal politician whose family had become wealthy in the German linen industry.

He married Marianne Schnitger, a second cousin.

 Max Weber conceived of sociology as a comprehensive science of social action In action. his analytical focus on individual human actors he differed from many of his predecessors whose sociology was conceived in social-structural terms. His initial theoretical focus is on the subjective meaning that humans attach to their actions and interactions within specific social contexts.

The Max Difference

Society for Weber

According to Weber, Society is not structure, an existing thing, but interrelated actions. Weber was interested in behavior and motivation, the subjective (individual perception) as well as the objective (systematic causality). He believed that society should NOT be viewed from a single perspective. Instead, it should be viewed as a mixture of perspectives that vary according to the groups that make up the society.

Social Stratification
Weber believed that class divisions as the most important source of social conflict.
Age, race, sex, politics, geography, willpower, culture, income, education, religion, physical ability, self-control. I believe that it is natural for differing groups to exist.

Social Institutions
Social institutions provide common feelings and beliefs that hold the varying groups together. The social institutions most important to Weber were economic (class),political (power),and cultural (status).Weber believed these social institutions affect how a person sees the world and how she/he will act.

The Industrial Revolution began around 1750 in England. Modern bureaucracy emerged around 1850. It is a way to run large organizations.

Max Weber proposed around turn of the century an ideal type (what we would call today a model) of the (then) new form of organization. He described ideal-type bureaucracy with 6 characteristics. He contrasted modern bureaucracy with the traditional patrimonial type of organization based on family ties.

Bureaucracy
Weber developed the Principles of Bureaucracy as a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge Max Weber

6 Principles of Bureaucracy
according to Max Weber
1.

There are principles of official jurisdictional areas . (Impersonality)

Every bureaucracy has its own special area: firemen do not arrest criminals, doctors do not empty bedpans, professors do not deliver mail.

Bureaucracy works regardless of a particluar person. Individuals can come and go, but the position is defined by the workflow and the rules guiding behavior of occupants in that position.

2. Offices are Hierarchically ordered (Hierarchy of authority )

Creates a clear system of authority, w. superiors and subordinates. This makes it possible for the governed to appeal, in a regulated manner, the decision of a lower office to the corresponding authority. Similarly, those in a particular position can always find a boss of their own supervisor (except, of course, at the highest level), to appeal. these systems are monocratically organized. This means that any position has only one boss, allowing for clear lines of authority.

3. Files & Positions (Written rules of conduct ) That every bureaucracy has written rules and files that serve as the organizational memory of the bureaucracy This is what allows the continuous fulfillment of a position.

4. Positions require specialized training (Promotion based on achievement) People are appointed to offices based on explicit qualifications (which are written down).

5. Official activity demands the full working capacity of the official (Efficiency) An office holder is responsible for completing the tasks of the office, regardless of the number of hours it might take. Thus, as any of you will discover when you take on a salary position, you work to get the job done, not to full the clock.

6. Office Management follows exhaustive, stable, written rules, which can be learned. (Specialized division of labor) Every office holder's duties are clear, as are the responsibilities that each has to the other. In practice, knowledge of these rules is a key type of specialized training

Whenever there is a particular system containing humans, like e.g. organizations, there must be some authority acting as a stabilizing factor making e.g. employees follow the directions of the leaders.

Authority
Authority will help to prevent anarchy, and help to define a clear hierarchy of decision-making. A clear hierarchy will potentially lead to an effective organization, consisting of strong and legitimate authority relations between leaders and followers

authority is only granted leaders if followers find his or her authority legitimate. If authority is to be seen legitimate, the relation between authority and followers must be balanced, so that the authority relation is accepted by the followers

Weber distinguishes three types of authority:

Traditional authority
This type of authority rests on an established belief that leaders have a traditional and legitimate right to exercise authority. It gives rise to patrimonial systems like e.g. patriarchal and feudalistic systems and societies.

 Rational-legal authority
This type of authority rests on the belief in the "legality" of formal rules and hierarchies, and in the right of those elevated in the hierarchy to posses authority and issue commands. This type of authority is often seen as legitimate in bureaucratic systems, which enables impersonal, specific and formal structures of modern companies.

 Charismatic authority
This type of authority rests on the belief in an exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual, and on the normative patterns or orders revealed and issued by him or her.

The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism

(Die protestantiche Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus)

Book Contents
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber puts forward thesis that Puritan ethics and ideas had influenced the development of capitalism. However, religious devotion was accompanied by rejection of worldly affairs, including the pursuit of wealth and possessions. Weber addresses this apparent paradox in the book.

Book Contents
He defines spirit of capitalism as the ideas and habits that favor the rational pursuit of economic gain. Weber points out that such spirit is not limited to western culture if one considers it as the attitude of individuals--heroic entrepreneurs, as he calls them---could not by themselves establish a new economic order(capitalism). The most common tendencies were greed for profit with minimum effort and the idea that work was a curse and burden to be avoided especially when it exceeded what was enough for modest life.

Book Contents
Weber shows that certain types of Protestantism favored rational pursuit of economic gain and the worldly activities had been given positive spiritual and moral meaning. It was not the goal of those religious ideas, but rather a byproduct --- the inherit logic of those doctrines and the advice based upon them both directly and indirectly encouraged planning and self-denial in the pursuit of economic gain.

Book Contents
Weber traced the origins of the Protestant ethic to the reformation. In his opinion, under the Roman Catholic Church, an individual could be assured of salvation by belief in the churchs sacraments and the authority of its hierarchy. However, the Reformation had effectively removed such assurances.

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In the absence of such assurances from religious authority, Weber argued that Protestants began to look for other signs that they were saved. Worldly success became one measure of salvation. Anticipating Adam Smith(but using very different argument), Luther had made an early endorsement of division of labor that was beginning to develop in Europe. Therefore, according to Webers reading of Luther, a vocation from God was no longer limited to the clergy or church, but applied to any occupation or trade.

Book Contents
However, Weber saw the fulfillment of the Protestant ethic not in Lutheranism, which he dismissed as a rather servile religion but in Calvinistic forms of Christianity. The paradox Weber found was, in simple terms: According to the new Protestant religions, an individual was religiously compelled to follow a secular vocation with as much zeal as possible. A person living according to this world wide view was more likely to accumulate money.

Book Contents
However, Weber saw the fulfillment of the Protestant ethic not in Lutheranism, which he dismissed as a rather servile religion but in Calvinistic forms of Christianity. The paradox Weber found was, in simple terms: However, the new religions(in particular, Calvinism and other more austere Protestant sects) effectively forbade any traditional method of actually using any money gained through this work. The purchasing of luxuries or items to make ones life more pleasurable was considered a sin. Donations to an individuals church or congregation was limited due to the rejection by certain Protestant sects of icons.

Book Contents
However, Weber saw the fulfillment of the Protestant ethic not in Lutheranism, which he dismissed as a rather servile religion but in Calvinistic forms of Christianity. The paradox Weber found was, in simple terms: Finally, donation of money to the poor or to charity was generally frowned on because a lack of worldly success was seen as a combination of laziness or divine disfavor.

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manner in which this paradox was resolved, Weber argued, was the investment of this money which gave an extreme boost to nascent capitalism.
The

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Weber maintained that while Puritan Religious ideas had a major influence on the development of economic order in Europe and in United States, they were not the only factor. In the end, the study of Protestant ethic, according to Weber, merely explored one phase of the emancipation from magic, that disenchantment of the world that he regarded as the distinguishing peculiarity of Western Culture.

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Weber stated in the last the endnotes that he abandoned research into Protestantism because his colleague Ernst Troeltsch, a professional theologian, had initiated work on the book The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches and Sects. Another reason for Webers decision was that Troeltschs essays had provided the perspective for a broad comparison of religion and society, which he continued in his later works.

Book Contents
This book is also Webers first brush with the concept of rationalization. His idea of modern capitalism as growing out of religious pursuit of wealth. At some point this rational ends outgrew and became unreliant on the underlying religious movement behind it, leaving only rational capitalism. In essence then, Webers Spirit of Capitalism is effectively and more broadly a Spirit of Rationalization.

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The essay can be also interpreted as one of Webers criticisms of Karl Marx and his theories. While Marx held, generally speaking, that all human institutions-including religion-were based on economic foundations, The Protestant Ethic turns this theory on its head by implying that a religious movement fostered capitalism not the other way around.