Max Weber (1864-1920)

Social Historical Background

• highly developed industrial economy

• Latecomer, but caught up to france

•Germany was becoming a heavily _______country within record time. The population increased and _________took place.

industrialized ; urbanization

the political structure was dominated by

the semi-feudal values of Prussian conservatism.

The political system was characterized by a combination of a ________type of authoritarianism with a highly developed formal __________.

patriarchal;legalism

•Civil servants were committed to the ______notion of duty and imbued with a strong sense of prerogative and authority.

kantian

Weber perceived modern Western society as _______, and he was interested in describing this uniqueness and explaining its emergence

unique

Weber says, “What makes the West so unique?”

the emergence of modern Western society is basically a process of rationalization. (more efficient adaptation of means to ends, more systematic organization of reality, and decline of myth and magic.)

•Weber argued that bureaucratic coordination of activities

is the distinctive mark of the modern era.

The word bureaucracy derives from the French word, bureaucratie.

Bureau means “desk” and -cratie “a kind of government.”

•Rationalization is the most clearly evident in the growing importance of ______.

bureaucracy

What does Bureaucracy mean to weber?

• most effective and efficient organization known to mankind.

• •Bureaucratic coordination of activities is the distinctive mark of the modern era where we find the most advanced institutions of capitalism.

• particularism- partimonial

• rationality - universalism (merit)

Weber’s ideal type of Bureaucracy

• •Max Weber used the typology of the ideal types to study bureaucracy.

  •Ideal types are used as a yardstick for comparison.

  •Ideal types are constructed by sociologists to portray the principle characteristics of a phenomenon.

  •Ideal types are abstract concepts and are pure types.

  •The word “ideal” does not mean good, desirable, perfect, etc. An ideal type is a typology set of standard by which other things can be measured or compared.

Division of Labor

•Each office or position has clearly defined duties and responsibilities. In this manner, the regular activities of the organization are arranged within a clear-cut division of labor.

Hierarchy of Authority

•All offices are organized in a hierarchy of authority that takes the shape of a pyramid. Officials are held accountable to their superior for their subordinates’ actions and decisions in addition to their own.

Rules

•All activities are governed by a consistent system of abstract rules and regulations. They define the responsibilities of the various offices and the relationships among them. They assume the coordination of essential tasks and uniformity in their performance regardless of changes in personnel.

Specialization, profesionalization

• All offices carry with them qualifications that are filled on the basis of technical competence, not personal consideration. Competence is established by certification or examination.

Career

•Employment by the organization is defined as a career. Promotion is based on seniority or merit, or both. After a probationary period, people gain the security of tenure and are protected against arbitrary dismissal.

Filing

Administrative decisions, rules, procedures, an activities are recorded on written documents, which are preserved in permanent files

Incumbents do not “own” their offices

Positions remain the property of the organization and office holders are supplied with the items they require to perform their work.

•Weber stated  that the struggle for power and the retention of power in a society

are not simply a reflection of the economic base.

•In order to control people, it is necessary not only to secure power

but also to establish the right to wield such power.

The power must be

legitimate

Legitimate power

Authority

How to Make the Might the Right

•1. Legal-rational authority – based on rational grounds and anchored in impersonal rules that have been legally enacted or contractually established. E.g., office, incumbency

•2. Traditional authority – based on belief in the sanctity of tradition. E.g., inheritance, birthright, tradition

•3. Charismatic authority – rests on the appeal of leaders who claim allegiance because of their extraordinary virtuosity. Charisma = gift of grace, superhuman characteristics, magnetic personality. Charismatic authority appears in times of crisis

Routinization

refers to the process in which charismatic authority is transformed into legal-rational or traditional authority

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

• •In his book, Weber argues that without Protestantism, modern capitalism would not have developed. He considered religion as a vital agent for social change.

• •Religion supplies sources of individual motivation and defines people’s relationships to their society.

• Weber believed that the Protestant ethic served to liberate individuals from the domination of tradition and created a perception of the world that was a stimulus for innovation, and rationalized economic activity.

  • He use the ideal type as his methodology.

Ethic

•the perspective and values engendered by a religious way of thinking

Weber’s Explanation Methodology – the Ideal Types

•1. Capitalism developed in Protestant countries (the U.S. and the U.K) while Catholic countries such as Spain, Italy, and Portugal lagged behind.

•2. In Germany where the socio, historic, and economic conditions are the same for both groups, the Protestant regions saw more industrial development than the Catholic regions.

•3. The number of entrepreneurs. There are more Protestant entrepreneurs.

•4. Among the Protestantism, Calvinists and the most conspicuous.

•5. The three major tenets of Calvinism:

John Calvin (1509-1564)

•. The three major tenets of Calvinism:

        a. The doctrine of predestination

        b. Hard work is a virtue

             This worldly success = a sign of salvation (hard work, sobriety, thrift, restraint, avoidance of earthly pleasures)

        c. Calling – Glorify your God in the fulfillment of your calling

•What Weber meant by the spirit of capitalism is the ________features of the ways capitalists think about the world, the ______, rational way of viewing the world (asceticism).

essential; capitalists

•Weber showed how religious ideas (the superstructure for Marx) can affect economic behavior.

•E.g., Benjamin Franklin

•Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748)

•Poor Richard’s Almanac (1757)

•Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

•Time is money.

•Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.

•God helps those who help themselves.

•A sleeping fox catches no poultry.

•Women and wine, game and deceit, make the wealth small and the wants great.

•Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all things easy.

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