1870-1954 1864-1920

Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Born into a prosperous middle-class family
• Childhood in Berlin
• Studied at Heidelberg
– Ph.D. in 1889
– Economics and Legal History

Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Taught at universities in Freiburg, Munich,
Vienna, and Heidelberg
• Worked as a consultant for the government and for private reform groups

Max Weber (1864-1920)
• 1897-1904
– Repeated mental breakdowns
• 1904-1914
– Period of gradual recovery
– Great intellectual productivity
(including The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism)
– Affair with Else Jaffe

Max Weber (1864-1920)
1914-1920
– Returned to full schedule of work
– Teaching at the
University of Vienna and the University of Munich
1920
– Died suddenly of pneumonia
– Marianne prepared his work for publication (2/3 of total life’s work) and wrote his biography

Max Weber (1864-1920)
Most Important Books:
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)
The Religions of China (1916)
The Religions of India (1917)
Economy and Society - 3 volumes (1921)
The City (1921)
General Economic History (1923)
Methodology of the Social Sciences (1946)

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Born Marianne Schnitger in
Oerlinghausen
Her mother, of the prestigious Weber family, died two years later.
Her father was a country doctor.
• Grew up in economic difficulty
• Sent to finishing school by wealthy maternal grandfather

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Ambitious
• Determined to achieve something of importance
• Went to live with relatives in Berlin
– to study art
– married their son Max in 1893

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Able to attend classes at
University of Heidelberg
(closed to women) because married to a professor
• Became a prolific writer and a feminist
• Max supported her ambitions

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
During Max’s recovery from mental illness the Webers traveled.
− visited the United States
− went to Chicago
– got to know Jane Addams and other women at Hull House
In 1907 Marianne received an inheritance from her grandfather.

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
When Max died suddenly in
1920, Marianne coped by
• Getting his work published
• Writing his biography
Lived 34 years more
• Writing about women
• Involved in feminist movements
• Received honorary doctorate from University of Heidelberg

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Most important books:
Marriage, Motherhood, and the Law (1907)
Reflections on Women and
Women’s Issues (1919)
Max Weber: A Biography (1926)
Marriage and Divorce (1929)
The Ideal of Family and Community (1930)
Women and Love (1935)
Remembrances of Life (1945)