Max Weber defined sociology as “a science concerning itself with the interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a causal explanation of its course and consequences” (Weber, 1921, 1968 p.4). This definition of sociology and many of its core principals, developed by Weber himself, are still viable and continue to be studied and used by sociologists today. As is often the case, history is the ultimate judge of the importance of a man’s work, and history has certainly shown Max Weber to be one of the founders of modern sociology.
Weber was born in 1864 to a Protestant family who had at one time fled Salzburg to avoid Catholic persecution By all accounts he grew up in a home environment that was intellectually stimulating, as his father had a successful political career and as a result his parents often hosted prominent academic and political figures. But Weber’s father was a pragmatic, ambitious politician who had little interest in ideals, religion, or intellectualism. By contrast, his mother was a devout Calvinist, who did her best to foster her Christian morals and beliefs in her young son (Coser, p. 234-237).
At first it seemed as if young Weber would take after his father, as he followed in his footsteps in the study of law of the University of Heidelberg. But it was at the University of Heidelberg that Weber found the foundation for what would be his true calling, the social sciences. Besides law, he studied philosophy, theology and medieval history, and went on to develop his intellect further under the tutelage of his uncle, the historian Hermann Baumgarten, who was an academic with a liberal worldview (Coser, p. 234-237).
Many attribute the influence of his time with the Baumgartens as being crucial to Weber’s development. His uncle treated him as an intellectual equal, and his aunt, a devout Christian, heavily influenced his views on Christianity and encouraged him in theological studies. Weber was on his way to a brilliant academic career, as he was not only a lecturer in economics at the University of Heidelberg, he was also beginning to publish work on politics, theology and social sciences. This was sidelined by a nervous breakdown which debilitated him from several years. Upon his recovery, however, he embarked on the most prodigious period of his life, during which he published such works as The Methodology of the Social Sciences and The Protestant Ethic (Coser, 240-242).
Weber’s sociological work was focused on the western capitalistic societies. He held a strong belief in the necessity of a symbiotic relationship between bureaucracy and capitalism. Weber believed that a bureaucratic structure both supported and perpetuated a capitalist society, the beneficial aspects of capitalism as well as the harmful ones, such as social inequality. He recognized the while a bureaucracy does bring some negative effects, such as the depersonalization or dehumanization of society, but in doing that it also effectively removes some aspects of class inequality. But Weber also held a similar position to that of Marx, that capitalism was ultimately a class society, and that the class divisions of capitalism were necessary for its function (Hurst, p. 188).
Weber used three quantifying categories to gauge individual status in capitalist society, those being the individual’s social, political, and economic power. Part of Weber’s social classifications, which were a groundbreaking part of his work, were composed of property class, or essentially upper class people possessing the majority of wealth and influence, and the commercial class, whose different divisions are determined by the value of the members to the marketplace, be it through skill, knowledge or occupation.
Another theory of Weber’s has to do with his high valuation of the Protestant work ethic, which is directly related to his upbringing, namely the religious influence of his mother and aunt, both of whom were Calvinists. Weber was of the belief that the Protestant work ethic, as he had seen demonstrated, was necessary for a capitalist system to survive and flourish. In other words, for the system to function at an optimal level all members of society must place a premium on work (Hurst, p. 188-189).
REFERENCES:
Coser, Lewis A. 1977. Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context, second edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Retrieved from http://www.sociosite.net/topics/weber.php June 27, 2006.
Hurst, Charles E. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. 2004. Pearson Education, Inc.
Weber, Max. 1968/1921. Economy and Society. Translated and edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. New York: Bedminster Press. Retrieved from http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Weber/Whome.htm June 28, 2006.
