Max Weber (1864-1920)
Weber was born in Erfurt in Thuringia,
Germany on April 21, 1864
He was the oldest of seven children.
In college Weber studied law,
economics, medieval history, and
theology.
In 1893 he married his distant cousin
Marianne Schnitger, who later became
a feminist and author.
Along with Marx and Durkheim he is
regarded as one of the founders of
modern sociology.
On June 14, 1920 he died of pneumonia.
Influence of Max Weber
Famous Works:
 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 1905
 Economy and Society, 1914
 The Sociology of Religion, 1920
 The Methodology of the Social Sciences, 1949
Legacy of Weber:
 Weber worked in the antipositivist tradition which believed the social
sciences needed different methods than the methods of the natural
sciences because of social action.
 Weber made large contributions to the fields of the sociology of
religion and the sociology of government
 Weber concentrated on the relationship between social stratification
and religion.
The Distribution of Power within the Political
Community: Class, Status, Party (1914)
Economically Determined Power
 Power = chance of man or group to realize their own will in a
social action even against the resistance of others
 Economically conditioned power not exactly the same as
“power”
 Power itself has its own value
Social Honor
 Often, quest for power is conditioned by the
social honor of it
 “Naked” economic power not necessarily basis
of social honor
 Social honor is often basis of economic power
 Power & honor can be guaranteed by the legal
order, but not always
Status Order
 Way that social honor is distributed in a
community amongst groups
 Economic order merely decides who gets
what resources
 Status and economic orders react to each
other
Class Situation

Represent possible bases for social action
 We define class as:
1. # of people have a common causal
component of their life chances
2. This component made up only of economic
interests in the possession of goods and
opportunities for income
3. Is represented in the actual market situation
 Class situation = market situation
Class Distinction and Property
 Plurality of people meeting competitively in
marketplace  specific life chances
 Monopolizes power in hands of wealthy,
property-owners
 Property vs. lack of property  basic
categories of all class situations
 Different kinds of property

On a continuum
Beginning of Class Struggle
 Crop-raising communities: fate of individual
determined by their labor
 Now: fate determined by possession
 Creditor-debtor relationship established
Class Interest & Social Action
 Direction of class interest affected by presence/amount
of social action among those is the same class


Trade union
Individual can expect more promising results
 Can be simply aggregate behavior of individuals
(grumbling of workers)
 Degree of social action and association related to
transparency of causes and consequences of the class
situation

Contrast of life chances seen as not given fact, but result
of distribution of property and/or structure of economic
order
Class Struggle
 Caused not by members of the same class, but social
action among members of different classes
 Social actions that directly determine the class situation
of worker & entrepreneur:
 Labor market
 Commodities market
 Capitalistic enterprise
 Class struggles have shifted from:
 Consumption credit
 Competitive struggles in the commodity market
 Wage disputes in the labor market
Status Honor
 Property not always recognized as a status qualification
 Both propertied & propertyless people can belong to




same status group
A specific style of life is expected from all in the circle
Encourages strict submission to the dominant fashion
of that society
Families can appropriate status honor
 First Families of Virginia
Legal privilege eventually develops after years of
certain set social order and stratification
Ethnic Segregation & Caste
 From social order to legal privilege  status group becomes a
caste
 Status groups upheld by social conventions, laws, and now
religion
 Usually only occurs when status group differences are held to
be “ethnic”
 Castes differ from mere ethnic segregation


Castes segregate groups into a vertical social system of
super/subordination
Segregated (but coexisting) ethnic groups each considers own
honor to be highest; mutual repulsion & disdain
 Ex: Jews
Status Privileges
 Stratification by status goes hand-in-hand with a
monopolization of ideal and material goods or
opportunities

Special costumes, exotic dishes, carrying special arms
 Strong motive for exclusiveness of group
 Increased closure of status group (intermarriage)
 Monopolization of preferential employment becomes legal
 Stigma of performing physical labor; artistic/literary activity
for income (if there’s hard physical exertion)
Economic Conditions and Status Stratification
 The market knows nothing of honor
 Status order is threatened when naked
economic power (even w/extra-status stigma)
could bring an individual up the honor level of
high status group
 When market is stable, stratification by status
is favored
 Technological change and economic
transformation threatens status stratification
Parties
 Classes belong in the economic sphere
 Status groups belong in the social order sphere
(distribution of honor)
 Parties belong in the sphere of power

Struggle for acquisition of social control
 Always involves association
 Need not be purely class nor purely status
parties; can be mixed types
 Sociological structure of parties differs according


To whether community is stratified by status or
class
To the structure of domination
Discussion
 Today, which comes first: the social honor or
the economic power? (America vs. other
countries)
 Does Weber’s conception of the purely
economic-based class situation align with or
stray from your conception of class in
America

Is the more to it than pure income/wealth?
Discussion cont.
 Would you say the causes and consequences
of the class situation in the US are
transparent?

How has that (not) motivated social action
 Who is in the high status group today? What
privileges do they receive?


In America?
In the world?
Discussion cont.
 Weber says during times of
economic/technological change, naked class
situation is predominantly important:

Examples in history?
 When change slows, the importance of social
honor increases

Examples in history?
Discussion cont.
 Weber sets the economic, social, and (political)
power sphere as separate entities


Are they really mutually exclusive?
How do they overlap?
 Where do parties in the US recruit their
members from?



Class situations?
Status situations?
Both?
The Types of Legitimate Domination (1914) –
Max Weber
 Every form of/ case of domination implies an
‘interest in obedience’ and/or will to comply
 People under rule are bound to obey their superior as
a result of affectual ties, by a purely material complex
of interests, or by ideal motives- whichever of these
that is used will determine the type of domination
3 types of legitimate domination:
1. Rational grounds- resting on a belief in the legality of enacted
rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such
rules to issue commands (legal authority)
2. Traditional grounds- resting on sanctity of immemorial traditions
and those exercising authority under them (traditional authority)
3. Charismatic grounds- resting on devotion to the exceptional
sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual
person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or
ordained by him (charismatic authority)
-- obeyed by personal trust in his revelation or exemplary
characteristics/ qualities so far as they fall within the scope of
the individual’s belief in his charisma…
Legal Authority with a Bureaucratic
Administrative Staff
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Acceptance of legal norms (which are established
by imposition or value-rational) that members of the
body or organization pledge obedience to
Administrative law is implemented in the rational
pursuit of the interest specified in the order
governing the organization that is either approved
by the members or not disapproved by them
Superior or person in charge is subject to the rules
himself
As a ‘member’, authority is obeyed ‘only as law’!
As a member, you pledge obedience not to the
individual but to the office held by said person
Legal Authority with a Bureaucratic
Administrative Staff cont.
Chief employs a bureaucratic system of rule; he himself is in office
either by *election, *appropriation, or *succession. The officer
under him must:
be impersonal to official obligations
be organized
each office has a clear designed sphere (or job description)
office is filled by free selection
candidates are selected according to qualifications; they are appointed
set salary; official is free to resign but only under specific circumstances
is he terminated
7. the office is treated as the primary office by the officer
8. it constitutes a career; meaning a system of promotion according to
reward
9. official works separate from means of ownership of the means of
administration (has no say over who gets hired out of loyalty)
10. he is under strict scrutiny and conduct regulation by the people
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Traditional Authority
 occurs when legitimacy is believed with regard to age-old rulers and
powers
 this is based on a system of loyalty from individual upbringing
 personal loyalty determines officers of administrative staff

Weber describes the system as one where members pledge loyalty to
the individuals and not to the office; legitimized by:

the content of office is determined by tradition and cannot overstep
that of the superior ‘master’
 legitimized in terms of the master’s discretion in the sphere tradition
leaves open to him; obedience to this office tends to be unlimited
Traditional Authority cont.
 because of the superior’s role, a double sphere is created where the
superior is allowed:
1. that of action to be specific traditions
2. that of action which is free of specific rules (i.e. the master is
free to act on the basis of personal likes and pleasures- gifts)
 these are not formal principles*

they usually test how far the master can go, or to what lengths the
master can ‘act’ as not to arouse resistance among members;
 when there is resistance, it is directed against the superior and not the
system (bureaucracy)
 legislation that passes laws is only valid when it is a traditional
document (historical)
Traditional Authority cont.
What’s missing? :
1. a clearly defined office position
2. a rational hierarchy
3. a system of appointment on the basis of free contract, and
orderly promotion
4. technical training as a requirement
5. fixed salaries
Charismatic Authority
This is filled by an officer with charisma; not just any individual can
fill this role; regarded as divine origin or exemplary status
I. determined by how the leader’s followers or disciples view
him;
charisma is not the basis on the claim to legitimacy for
this type of leadership, but rather its up to the followers
to determine legitimacy or the genuineness of the leaderresulting in a complete personal devotion to the
possessor of the quality (from either enthusiasm or
hope/despair)
II. if his charisma, leadership, or ‘magical’ powers appear to
have
disappeared, then his charismatic authority will
also be gone.
Charismatic Authority cont.
III. Charismatic community (the organization of the
leader’s followers) is:

based on an emotional form of communal worship;
administrative officers are not chosen by either loyalty
or election (bureaucracy) but is determined by
charisma (i.e. a prophet has his disciples; and a
warlord has his bodyguard)

there is no such thing as an appointment or dismissal,
no career, no promotion, no hierarchy; but that most
every responsibility for regulating his administration is
left up to the “superior”; there is no salary or benefice
Charismatic Authority cont.
IV. this charisma is foreign/ independent of economic
situations/markets- even though in some cases these
leaders require material possessions from their
subjects
V. because charisma can be born from suffering,
conflicts, or enthusiasm, it can bring about radical
change in central attitudes and direction of action
toward different problems in the world
Routinization of Charisma
 charismatic leadership tends to either become traditionalized or
rationalized because it is unstable; Weber calls it a transitory
phenomenon
 he says: a. the people’s desires for that of material goods
fluctuates; b. the same desires of the administration fluctuate; it
is almost impossible for a mistake to enjoy the same worldly
accesses because he is cut off from such a social position and it
is replaced with a discipleship cut off from worldly connections
* he says Routinization of charisma (its downfall) takes the form of
the appropriation of powers and of economic advantages by the
followers or disciples; as a result, Weber says this
randomization comes to be defined as the charismatic
organization being turned into an everyday institution and
putting it on the political level as having it be ruled by a ‘divine
right’.
Discussion Questions:
 Out of all the three types of rational
government Weber describes, which do you
feel is most effective? Which do you feel is
the most organized? Which do you feel keeps
people the happiest?
 Is there a position that exists in the United
States that can be classified under all 3 of
these types of authority?
Discussion Questions cont.
 Name that Leadership! - Which type comes
to mind…






President of the United States
Pastor
Point guard of the Duke Basketball team
A group’s rights activist (i.e. racial minority’s,
women’s, animal’s)
Beyonce’
Police officer
Discussion Questions cont.
 Weber says that “there is no such thing as an
appointment or dismissal, no career, no promotion,
no hierarchy; but that most every responsibility for
regulating his administration is left up to the
“superior”; there is no salary or benefice…”. Do you
agree?
 Which do you think is the most effective form of
leadership to utilize to make social and/or political
change? The same form of leadership or a different
one for each category?
Bureaucracy (1922)
Characteristics of Modern Democracy
1. Principal of Official jurisdiction ordered by rules:
•
•
•
Activities required for bureaucracy are assigned by official duties
The authority to command these duties is distributed in a stable was
decided by rules
These duties and associated rights are set up to always be
completed. Only qualified persons are employed.
When these exist in a state it makes a bureaucratic agency. In
a private economy a bureaucratic enterprise.
For the state bureaucracy is only fully developed in the modern
state. In a bureaucratic enterprise it is only fully developed
in a private economy.
Characteristics of Modern Democracy
cont.
2. Principles of office hierarchy require established
system of super and subordination.
3. Management of an office is based on written
documents. Official duty is separated from the
private life of the official.
4. Specialized office management usually comes about
through specialized training.
Characteristics of Modern Democracy
cont.
5. In a fully developed office activity demands the full
working capacity of official independent of the
amount of working hours.
6. Management follows rules which are mostly stable,
exhaustive and able to be learned. One part of the
special technical expertise of the official is knowledge
of these rules.
Reduction of office management to rules is at the base
of the nature of a bureaucracy.
The Position of the Official Within and
Outside of Bureaucracy.
Office holding as a vocation
I.
•
•
•
•
Shown through requirement of training
Demands entire working capacity
Office holding considered acceptance of
duty not ownership of an income source
Does not establish relationship to a person
but to an impersonal and functional
purpose
The Position of the Official Within and
Outside of Bureaucracy. Cont.
II. Social Position of Official
a. Social esteem and convention.
The official usually seeks and attains an elevated
esteem which is protected by the position of rank
b. Appointment vs. Election.
Election is not strictly bureaucratic. Appointed
officials function more accurately because functional
points determine the official’s career. Election
endangers expert qualification and functioning of a
bureaucracy.
The Position of the Official Within and
Outside of Bureaucracy. Cont.
c. Tenure and Inverse Relationship Between Judicial
Independence and Social Prestige.
Tenure separates the official from the worker.
Also guarantees strictly impersonal discharge of
duties.
d. Rank as Basis of Regular Salary
Official receives salary and pension with old age.
This along with social esteem makes position highly
sought after.
e. Fixed Career Lines and Status Rigidity
Promotion and salary levels determined by fixed
measures of seniority or examination grades.
The Technical Superiority of Bureaucratic
Organization over Administration by
Notables
 Bureaucratic administrations are superior to all others
in precision, speed, ambiguity, knowledge of files,
continuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination,
reduction of friction of material and personal costs.
 Positions are assigned by training and expertise
 A fully developed bureaucracy levels status and takes
emotion and favoritism out of business.
The Leveling of Social Differences
a. Administrative democratization
Bureaucracy accompanies mass democracy which results
from abstract regularity of exercise of authority which results
from a demand for equality before the law.
b. Mass parties and the bureaucratic consequences of
democratization

Mass democratic parties are increasingly being organized
bureaucratically rather than by personal relationships

Political concept of democracy includes the prevention of
a closed status group of officials so that there is universal
access.

There is also a minimization of authority which creates a
conflict between bureaucracy and democracy.
The Objective and Subjective Bases of
Bureaucratic Perpetuity
 Once established bureaucracies are very hard to destroy
 They transform social action into rationally organized action





which is superior to every kind of collective behavior or social
action
The “Professional bureaucrat is chained to his activity in his
entire economic and ideological existence”
Those who are ruled cannot destroy it because it is based on
expert training, specialization, an attitude of habit.
If the bureaucracy ends chaos will ensue. The material fate of
the masses is tied to it.
Since it is based on objectivity and impersonal work it is easy to
make it work for anyone who can take it over
Makes revolution more and more impossible.
Discussion Questions
 Weber’s description of a Bureaucracy basically
asserts that it is better than any other type of
organization. Do you think this is true? Can you think
of ways that it fails to meet the needs of society?
 Weber’s description on the Modern Democracy and
Bureaucratic organizations as very fixed and
determined largely by fixed rules. Is it even possible
to meet his idea of a perfect bureaucracy? If so, what
room does this leave for personal creativity and
innovation?
Discussion Questions cont.
 Weber writes about the ways in which electing
officials fails to gain the success that appointment
through true bureaucratic processes does. In what
ways might appointment actually be worse than
election? Do you feel that election or appointment is
better for society?
 Presentation by Evelyn Meier, Adam
Williamson, and Andrea Young
 Biographical information:
This article is licensed under the GNU Free
Documentation License. It uses material from
the
Wikipedia article, “Max Weber”.