Max Weber

Understanding meanings
He took the view that to study the development
of a social institution solely from outside, without
regard to what man makes of it, is to overlook
one of the principal aspects of social life.
A social action or social relationship can also be
explained by the purposes which man assigns to
it and the different meanings he attaches to it in
the course of time.

Interpretative understanding
To what extent is interpretative
understanding, as a sociological method,
capable of establishing truths which are
valid for all who want the truth?
Human behavior has a context of meaning
which we must grasp if we are to
understand the behavior itself.

How are we to grasp its meaning?

Two ways of grasping meanings: 1.
Explanatory Understanding- direct
empirical understanding. 2. Interpretationthe understanding is indirect, because it
relies on the motives of the acts to supply
their meaning.

Certainty of Meaning
Certainty of meaning may vary in degree
according to circumstances.
The highest degree of certainty consists in the
intellectual understanding of a rational activity.
An adequate of certainty characterizes our
understanding of the experiences of others
which we are capable of sympathetically sharing
e.g. of mistakes which we are inclined to make
ourselves. The certainty of such understanding,
achieved through empathy and imagination.

Subjective Meaning and Empathy

Grasping the subjective meaning of an activity is
facilitated by interpretative understanding, and in
particular by reliving through empathy.
To be able to put ones self in the place of the
actor is important for clearness of understanding
but not an absolute precondition for meaningful
interpretation. e.g. it is not necessary to be
Gandhi to understand Gandhi.

How to endow the interpretative method with

the possible objective validity?
An interpretative understanding is no more than
an auxiliary means of grasping the meaning of
an act, and must be confirmed by causal
imputation or statistical data. Then only it can
establish general rules.
Meaningful Causality: the combination of
explanation and interpretative understanding

What is Behavior (action)? What is

Social Behavior (social action)?
Behavior or action will be called human
behavior or action only so far as the
person or persons involved engage in
some subjectively meaningful action.
Social action denotes activities whose
intent is related by the individuals involved
to the conduct of others and is oriented
accordingly.

Social Actions and Exclusions

A action which is oriented solely to the possible
reactions of inanimate objects cannot be termed
social. e.g. an act of solitary prayer.
Not every type of contact between human
beings constitutes a social relationship. e.g. an
accidental collision of two cyclists is not a social
relationship. The basic requirement for social
action is its meaningful relatedness to the
conduct of others.

The meanings of various types of social

actions with the highest degree of validity
Since all interpretation strives to achieve the
utmost certainty, the problem is to define social
action in the most rationally verifiable manner.
To this end, Weber distinguishes between
rational goal-oriented action and rational valueoriented action, affective or emotional action and
traditional action.

Rational Goal-Oriented
(zweckrational) Action
It may defined as an action in which, once
the goal has been chosen, due
consideration is given to the appropriate
means and full account is taken of the
foreseeable consequences which may
conflict with the line of action decided
upon.
It is the ideal type of social action most
susceptible of rational proof.

RGO social action

It reveals the ideal type of a subjectively
meaningful means-and-end relationship.
An ideal type of rational action enables the
sociologists to evaluate the effect of the
intervention of irrational elements, whether
accidental, affectual or other, to assess the
extent to which they impaired the original plan
and to measure the deviation between the actual
course of action and its subjective meaning.

Rational Value-Oriented Action

It is distinguished by the fact that the
agent is guided solely by his convictions,
without giving a thought to the foreseeable
consequences.
The value-oriented individual espouses a
religious, political, or other value or cause
with the feeling that it is an unconditional
and personal obligation.

RVO Action
It is rational that it is not governed solely
by success or lack of it.
It has an inner coherence and expresses
itself in acts which are in line with the
individuals convictions.

Affective action
It is the action that is dictated immediately
by the state of mind of the subject or
agent.
It contains some unintelligible instinctual,
emotional and passionate elements.

Traditional Action
It is the action that is dictated by customs,
by beliefs become habitual and second
nature.
The act according to tradition the actor
need not imagine a goal or be conscious
of a value.

Theory of Authority
No form of authority is satisfied with an
obedience which is merely external
submission on grounds of common sense
or respect; it seeks further to arouse the
members of the group to faith in its
legitimacy, that is, transform discipline into
adherence to the truth which it represents.
Weber conceived of three types of
legitimate authority.

Legal Authority
It is rational in character; it is based on
belief in the rationally established laws
and in the legitimacy of the leaders
appointed in accordance with law.
The effectiveness of legal authority rests
on the acceptance of five interrelated
ideas.

Five interrelated ideas

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Given legal norm is valid on grounds of rational values

Every body of law constitutes a system of technical
prescriptions or criminal justice system.
Impersonality of juridical order
Obedience to law or political obligation to the state.
Official functions bound by rules and divided into
specified spheres of competence. e.g Bureaucracy.

Traditional Authority
It is based on belief in the sanctity of
traditions in force and on the legitimacy of
those who are called upon to exercise
power.
Power belongs not to a leader chosen by
the inhabitants of the country, but to a man
or woman who assumes office by virtue of
custom. e.g. Monarchy

Traditional Authority
The governed are not citizens but
subjects.
The subjects are obedient not to an
impersonal norm or rules but to a tradition
or to orders legitimized through the
traditional privilege of the sovereign.

Charismatic Authority
Based on the members abandonment of
themselves to an individual distinguished
by his or her holiness, heroism, and
exemplariness.
It is an exceptional quality of a person who
appears to possess supernatural and
superhuman. For this reason is able to
gather disciples or followers around him or
her.

Charismatic Authority
Its foundation is emotional rather than
rational
Charisma means a break with continuity,
whether legal or traditional, it challenges
the customary restraints and appeals to a
new concept of human relationship.

Protestant Ethic and the Capitalism

Weber noticed that Protestants, particularly
Protestants of certain sects, were the chief
captains of industry and possessed more
wealth and economic means than other
religious groups notably Catholics.
Therefore, he wanted to ascertain whether
there is any connection between the
Protestant faith and the capitalism.

Protestantism
1. The shift from ritualistic and otherworldly orientation to down-to-earth
pragmatism.
2. Changed attitude toward work
3. The concept of Calling
4. Asceticism

The shift
The transcendental God is beyond the
comprehension of human mind. Therefore
there is no point in indulging in mysticism;
rather, man should seek to understand the
natural order.

Changed attitude toward work

Work becomes a virtue, something not only
good and desirable but contributing to the glory
of God as well.
Since Adam and Eve were evicted from the
Garden of Eden with the punishment that they
should henceforth earn their livelihood with the
sweat of their brows, the Catholic ethic regarded
work as a punitive necessity, the reminder of the
original sin, and hence valued leisure.

 The Protestant ethic not only encourages

gainful enterprises but also insists that
work is a virtue in itself since it contributes
to the glory of God.

The concept of Calling

It emerged from the Calvinist doctrine of
predestination according to which every
soul is predestined at birth for heaven or
hell and that nothing an individual does in
this life can change his ultimate fate.
But there are signs by which God indicates
to every individual whether he is among the
chosen, success in life is the most
important indicator of calling.

 Since every man is anxious to know if he

is marked for salvation or damnation, he
should select a calling, a vocation, work
hard at it and be successful.
Different from the Catholic means of
salvation.

Protestant Asceticism
The earthly things and flesh belong to the
order of sin and therefore, one should
abstain from the pleasures of the world.
Thus on the one hand, Protestantism exhorts
people to work hard and accumulate more
wealth and on the other hand, it forbids the use
of wealth for enjoyment. Undoubtedly a condition
par excellence for the development of capitalism

Conclusion of Weber
Weber did not claim that the ascetic
Protestantism caused capitalism. But
argued that it was one of the important
factors.