Weber and Verstehen

Sheen Bornales
Demi Hya Suspeñe
 MAX WEBER
- One of the proponents of sociology argued that another
quality of mind must be used.
- He proposed the philosophy of “ANTIPOSOTOVISM”
- According to him, we should use “VERSTEHEN” –
meaning “to understand” or to “grasp by insight”.
- Weber meant that the best interpreter of human action is someone
“who has been there” someone who understands the feelings and
motivations of the people they are studying.
- Weber intended to say that we must pay attention to SUBJECTIVE
MEANINGS – the ways in which people interpret their own behavior.
- He thought of sociology as a science of social action.
- Weber believed that the understanding why people do the things they
do is the basic building block of sociology.
- He also believed that sociologists should not just study a group of
people but also try to gain empathetic understanding for the
individuals in that group.
Why do people act differently in each of their social groups? How have social
groups, formal organizations, and society as a whole changed with time? These are
questions of Max Weber.

What exactly verstehen means?

- gaining an understanding of social action from the insider’s point of view in order
to better understand the interactions within a group and the group’s purpose.
This, in turn, helps to explain how groups of people make sense of the world
around them, how they fit into society as a whole, and how they’ve helped
society evolve over time.
 Max Weber’s Verstehen
- Max Weber’s sociology theory focuses on how certain actions and
behaviors “make sense” to agents in society.
- He used the German term verstehen, which translates to “understanding”,
in order to characterize his approach to studying social relations and
actions.
- He sought to understand how objective emotions, values, and motivations
can be understood “objectively” in a general social context.
 Max Weber’s Verstehen
There are two types of or approaches to verstehen.
1. Observational verstehen – attempts to use observed signs and external
phenomena (such as facial expressions) to make sense of the motivations
and subjective aspects of the agent in question.
2. Explanatory verstehen – in which the agent’s actions are investigated and
explained in terms of the subject’s motivations.
- For Weber, the second approach is more empathetic and more revealing; it has
more power to explain why poeple act the way they do.