Max Weber
Applying Sociological Knowledge
Understanding Capitalism and
Modernity
ISSUES
1. Weber’s view of modern society
- The “Iron Cage”
2. Weber applies his methods
- How good are his methods?
3. Weber versus Marx
- Differences & similarities
OUTLINE
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Weber’s life
Weber’s view of modern society
Weber’s methods: recap
Applying methods to modern society
Weber & Marx
Weber: the rise of capitalism
(Weber & Marx – again)
The “Iron Cage”
Evaluation
Weber’s Life
Born in Germany 1864 – 1920
- Rapid social change / industrialisation
- Development of government bureaucracy
Politics: German nationalist
But anti-authoritarian
Studies: history, economics, religious studies,
sociology
Against positivism / For interpretivism
Weber’s view of modern society
1) Modernity very unlike other societies
2) Capitalism (but view differs from Marx’s)
- Psychology of capitalism
3) Highly “rationalised”
- Ways of thinking: science, calculation
- Beliefs: secularisation
- Ways of organising people: bureaucracy
Weber’s Methods: Recap
Interpretivism:
Study what people think / why they act
“Verstehen” / Empathic understanding
Neo-Kantian methodology:
Reality is complex
Must simplify reality
Must build ideal types e.g. “bureaucracy”
Weber’s Methods: Recap
Sociology = study of social action
4 types of action:
1. Habitual (traditional)
2. Affective (emotional)
3. Value rational (beliefs)
4. Instrumental (or goal) rational
(calculation / efficiency)
Any actual action a mixture of some or all
Weber’s Methods: Recap
Types of Authority
Authority = legitimate power
Power of rulers to get ruled
to do things
Ruled see power of rulers as legitimate
3 types of authority:
Traditional / charismatic / legal-rational
Weber’s Methods: Recap
Value freedom
All studies are biased; must admit biases
Don’t pass off your biases as “the truth”
Value relevance
Reality vastly complicated
Researcher must choose what to emphasise, what
to downplay or miss out
Researcher’s interests shaped by personal &
cultural factors
Weber’s Methods: Recap
One-sided viewpoints
Reality complicated – multiple factors
Researcher can only look at some things
Any research is one-sided
2 problems:
Being unaware your research is one-sided
Passing off a one-sided viewpoint as “the truth”
Applying Methods to Modern Society
Development of modern society: many factors
In one study: must select some factors
e.g. Protestant Ethic study: religious factors
Overall: multi-dimensional analysis
- Look at as many factors as possible
e.g. religion, economics, politics, bureaucracy
- Try to relate them all together
Applying Methods to Modern Society
Ideal Types
Reality complex; must simplify
Ideal type: “perfect” model of a thing
Allows us to
- See things more clearly
- Compare model against reality
Protestant Ethic
Spirit of Capitalism
Bureaucracy
Applying Methods to Modern Society
Wants to look at as many factors
as possible
BUT inevitability of value
relevance – having to be
selective
Weber’s focus (1) (of 3)
- Look at ways people think; their
motivations for acting
Applying Methods to Modern Society
Emphasises role of new ways of thinking in
creating a new sort of society
New ways of thinking motivate new ways of
acting
New religion: Protestantism (Luther, Calvin)
- New way of thinking 1: more calculating
mindset
- New way of thinking 2: making money is moral
Protestant Ethic helps create new
“Capitalist Spirit”
- Calculating most efficient ways to make profits
Applying Methods to Modern Society
Weber’s focus (2)
Sees modern society as highly “rational”
1) Dominance of instrumental rationality:
calculating most efficient ways of
achieving goals
2) Ways of thinking:
- scientific mindset;
- capitalist search for profit
3) Social organisation: bureaucracy
Emphasises “rational” factors
Downplays “irrational” factors
Weber’s focus (3)
Western Europe & North America
- since 16th century: unique & unprecedented
social changes
- most human history: slow change, tradition
a) Rise of capitalist society
- Industrialisation / new classes:
capitalists & workers
b) Secularisation
c) Democratisation
Focus (3)
WHY DID THESE CHANGES HAPPEN IN THE
WEST AND NOWHERE ELSE??
Compare West to: India, China & Japan
Find what is unique to the West
Answer: ways of thinking / religion
Eastern religions: emphasise tradition / not
dynamic / don’t encourage social change
Western religions: Judaism, Christianity /
emphasise change & social transformation
West is religiously dynamic, East static
Weber & Marx
Ideal factors: religion, values, ways of
thinking, “culture” (“superstructure”)
Material factors: economy, production,
division of labour (“economic base”)
Marx: material factors more important than
ideal factors
Social change = material factors change
first, then ideal factors follow
Changes in economic base  changes in
social superstructure
Marx: the rise of capitalist society
Changes in Economic Base:
1) New technology: from farming to
factories
2) New classes: capitalists & workers
3) Capitalists take wealth & power
away from aristocracy
LEADS TO
Changes in Social superstructure
(i.e. changes in all other parts of society
e.g. politics, law, family, media, etc.)
Weber’s criticisms of Marx
1)
-
Marx has a one-sided viewpoint
Emphasises “material” factors
Thinks this is the whole story
OVERemphasises material factors
2) UNDERemphasises “ideal” factors
- Especially religion: Protestantism
- Doesn’t examine new ways of thinking,
new motivations
- Weber corrects this in Protestant Ethic
study
3) Marx is not multi-dimensional enough
a) Emphasises economic factors
But reality is complex: many factors involved
b) Must also look at political and cultural factors
(especially, but not only, religion)
c) Marx’s story only starts in the 16th century; must
go back much further in time:
- Rational thinking in West since ancient Greeks
- Bureaucracy since the ancient Romans
- Medieval Catholic Church is a bureaucracy
Weber: the rise of capitalism
PROTESTANT ETHIC (PE)
16th century: northern Europe
Rebellion against Catholic teaching
Luther and Calvin
More “pure” version of Christianity
Calvin: “damned” and “saved”
Chosen at birth
Psychological anxiety (“salvation anxiety”)
Do “good works” – work hard
EFFECTS OF PE ON SOCIETY
Medieval economy:
- subsistence economy
Attitudes:
- leisure more important
than work;
- work a necessary evil;
- making money is
immoral
Protestant Ethic (PE):
- work hard to show you are good
- making money a sign of virtue
Over time: work hard; make money
Spirit of Capitalism (SC):
- secular version of PE;
- becomes automatic; no religious aspect
PE leads to SC leads to social transformation
Spirit of Capitalism
1) Main aim in life: work hard, seek profits
2) Capitalism exists in many societies,
including pre-modern societies
e.g. piracy: make money by stealing
3) Modern capitalism (“Spirit of Capitalism”)
- Never-ending search for profits
- Calculate most efficient methods
- Keep accurate records: book-keeping
- Don’t waste profits; reinvest in business
- “Time is money”
Weber & Marx: again
DISAGREEMENTS:
Marx: material factors (economic base)
Weber: ideal factors as important (religion, Protestant
Ethic) as material factors
Weber:
1) Marx’s view TOO one-sided
2) Marx created an ideal-type (base-superstructure
model )
BUT Marx forgets it’s just a model, just one way of
looking at things
3) Marx stresses class over other types of social group
e.g. gender-based, ethnic-based, status-based
Weber & Marx: again
PARTIAL AGREEMENTS
Weber: Marx right to look at economic factors
(appearance of new classes; new technology)
Weber: must look at BOTH material and ideal factors
Weber: Marx on the right track; but not multidimensional enough
Weber against Marx?
Weber correcting Marx’s limitations
Weber adds to Marx
The “Iron Cage”
Modern society created by rationalization
processes:
1) Increasing levels of instrumental
rationality
Scientific mindset
Decline of religious belief
(“Disenchantment of the world”)
Instrumental rationality (calculation)
KILLS OFF value rationality (beliefs &
values, esp. religious)
The “Iron Cage”
2) Increasing bureaucratisation
Bureaucracy – ideal type:
a) Organising people with written rules
b) Rules enforced impersonally
c) Hierarchical organisation
d) Specialisation of tasks
Bureaucrats rule
Spread of bureaucracy into all spheres of life
e.g. family, private life
The “Iron Cage”
3) Increasing impersonalization of social
relations:
a) Calculation, not imagination & feelings
b) Actions more and more automatic
- Work hard, without knowing why
- Seek money, at expense of other things
c) Division of labour:
Everyone is a specialist
One-sided personalities
(all people, not just workers)
The “Iron Cage”
SOLUTIONS:
Marx: Communism
- Government controls economy
- More and more bureaucracy
Weber:
- try to salvage whatever individual
freedoms are left
- not much chance of this
EVALUATION
PROS:
1) More detailed account of rise of
modernity than Marx
 more sophisticated than Marx?
2) Deals with more factors
than Marx:
- material AND ideal
- goes back further in history
3) Sophisticated methods
(including admitting his own biases)
CONS:
1) Too pessimistic about modern
society?
2) Breaks His Own Rules?
- Gives a very negative one-sided
account of modern society
- Presents it as “the truth”
3) Problems with methods
 problems with his view of rise
and nature of modern society