the german sociologist Max Weber is one of the main theorists of sociology and occupies, with Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx, one of the bases of the so-called triad of classical sociology. Weber founded a method of sociological study based on what he called the social action and produced fruitful studies for understanding the formation of capitalism. Weber's most widespread book is Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, in which he analyzes the proximity of the formation of capitalism with the dissemination of Protestantism.
See too: Auguste Comte: considered the father of sociology
Max Weber Biography
Karl Emil Maximilian Weber (1864 – 1920) was a German sociologist, jurist and economist. born in a family of possessions led by a lawyer, Weber was educated with the rigidity of the Protestant religion and with the awakening of the taste for study and work. As a young man, he witnessed the statesman's unification of Germany Otto von Bismarck. (The German state did not yet exist. There were several independent Germanic kingdoms, and Bismarck promoted a policy of integrating these kingdoms, forming Germany as we know it today.)
In 1882, Weber joined the Law course at the University of Heidelberg, where, in addition to the legal sciences, he deepened his studies in economics and theology. In 1889 he completed his doctorate in law at the University of Berlin, and in 1893 he was appointed professor at the University of Freiburg.
Between 1882 and 1897, in addition to an academic career, Weber acted on the German political sceneto the, not getting much success. The sociologist was a very strict man with himself, and his idealization of work and success financial as an achievement of a worthy man (an idea that appears in the work cited) seemed to accompany the your life.
Austrian sociologist and historian Michael Polak, who has developed a biographical work on Weber, says that the German sociologist hated the idea of financially depending on his father, first for having some family differences with the parent and also for demanding professional success from him and financial, a success that usually takes time for someone starting a career as an academic researcher.
It is known that, to become a university professor and researcher, it is necessary to study a lot before being successful. A reflection of this was the Weber's marriage to the feminist writer Marianne Schnitger, which was postponed for years, having only taken place in 1894, when the sociologist got a job. During this waiting period, before the final engagement, a friend of Weber's had asked Marianne to marry him (when Weber and she already exchanged relationship intentions), which caused Weber even more disgust with her own life, he says. Polak.
In 1887, Weber's mother decides to travel to visit him. His father doesn't allow his wife to go alone and Weber doesn't like the idea of having him home, expelling him on his arrival. Some time later, his father dies and Weber has a mental breakdown, going into deep depression, which prevented him from working.
The sociologist got a license from the university and decided to travel, visiting various places in Europe (Italy was his favorite destination) and getting to know the United States. During this period he tries to return to teaching, but he is unsuccessful, due to his illness. His mental situation tormented him, mainly because of the ashamed he felt about the depression and not being able to work. To be supported by a license was even more shameful for the thinker.
In 1903, Weber resigns from the university, which he was denied for his competence. The public administration enters into an agreement with him granting him a pension, and, in return, makes him honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg, directing him to a minimum workload, which worked for the sociologist to return to work and recover his mental health.
During this period of return, Weber returned to writing with intensity, including his magnificent work — Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism. He had left acting in the political field for some time, which also helped him mentally recover.
Max Weber experienced World War I and, in 1919, was advisor to the German delegation at the conferences that preceded the Treaty of Versailles. Germany lost a lot with the agreement, as it had its army reduced, lost territory and had to pay compensation for the damage caused by the war.
Between 1919 and 1920, Weber also served as a member of the commission that drafted the Weimar Constitution — document that made the call official Weimar Republic, republican period in Germany that began with the end of the Second Reich (second empire that began in 1871 with the unification of Bismarck) and ended with the beginning of the Third Reich (third empire that began with the arrival of hitler to power in 1933).
in 1920 severe pneumonia bedded Weber and led to his death at 56 years of age. Until then, the sociologist had only published the books Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism (1905), economy and society (1910) and science as a vocation (1917). After his death, Marianne Schnitger Weber, his wife, curated his work and was responsible for the posthumous publication of a second volume of economy and society (1921), The methodology of social sciences (1922) and general economic history (1923).
Max Weber's theory, thoughts and main ideas
Weber's main objects of study in sociology were the capitalism and Protestantism, leading the sociologist to develop a sociology of theology. The Weberian view of capitalism was different from the Marxist. While Marx saw in capitalism the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, Weber saw it as the fruit of an ideal, the ideal of capitalism. As an ideal, capitalism promoted a kind of rationalization of work and money, being supported by prosperity and by the increasing capacity of generate money.
Max Weber was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant sustained by idealism. For Kant, the plan of ideas and concepts should guide all philosophical work, which would start from practice to arrive at the purest and most a priori concepts (prior to any material experience). Weber believed that capitalism originated with an ideal, with a spirit, and from that, this system was being built in practice. Based on this ideal, the notion of administration as a science capable of promoting the growth of capital emerged.
To write Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, Weber read the text Advice to a young trader, in Benjamin Franklin. Based on this text, which expresses the notion that became known as Franklin's catchphrase, time is money (time is money), and from the observation of European nations and the United States, Weber elaborated the theory that said that capitalism would have been improved with Protestantism, especially the Calvinist (in nations like England and the United States). For Franklin, money should be moved and expanded, and this expansion took place as the Calvinist tradition taught, through work.
For the Calvinists, there was a notion of predestination (worked by Weber as a hypothesis to be considered) which said that man was already born predestined to heaven or hell. The way to know if a person would go to heaven was to measure their success at work and their resistance to sin. As a sin, the Calvinists included futile amusements such as feasting and luxury as well as idleness and laziness.
The man of value to the Calvinists was the one who worked hard, as much as his body could take, and did not indulge in the pleasures of life, thus accumulating more and more money. For other Protestant strands, there is a general idea very similar to that of valuing work and fleeing from pleasure.
This made Weber see the difference in economic development between predominantly Protestant nations which became the greatest economic powers (Germany, England and the United States) and nations predominantly Catholics that have not had as much economic growth, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy.
The idea of the American political theorist and statesman Benjamin Franklin was supported by the Calvinist ideal, and the increase of money through work and escape from leisure and pleasures seemed to be a very plausible hypothesis for Weber, in the sense of measuring a person's success. Someone who could earn money was expected to multiply it to show his personal and moral worth.
THE ethic, in that sense, it was a practice aimed at a way of acting that escapes any distraction and from any sin and who sought in his work the greatest way to reach God. That's why Weber was so frustrated during a time in his life when he couldn't get his financial support and felt ashamed of the time when he was stricken by depression and could not work.
See more: Anarchism: theory that presents as the objective the end of capitalism and the State
Max Weber Social Action
For the sociological methodology, Weber contributed by formulating his social action theory. According to the sociologist, it was necessary for the researcher to be endowed with an axiological neutrality, that is, with a neutrality in relation to its object of study. Based on a neutral and impartial analysis, the sociologist should identify the subjects' social actions and classify them. In this, Weber disagrees with Durkheim's method, which seeks to seek social facts that are repeated in all societies and are invariable.
For Weber, individual actions provided the material needed to arrive at a valid study. However, because social actions are so vast and diverse, the sociologist should seek a correction pattern so that their work had a scientific validity and a methodological support.
This correction pattern was located in what Weber called the ideal types, which were beacons to establish any standard behavior. As ideals, these types are perfect and immutable and do not exist in practice. In this are the actions that could move away from or approach the ideal types.
Weber separates and classifies social actions into four types. Are they:
Rational social action with respect to ends: it is a type of action thought out and calculated to achieve some purpose. For example, getting married to raise a family. Social action is marriage and the purpose of this action is the constitution of the family.
Rational social action regarding values: it is a type of social action designed and calculated to achieve some kind of moral value, or aiming at morality as a basis. For example, doing what the moral deems right, like not stealing.
Traditional social action: it is neither rational nor calculated. It consists of a way of acting in accordance with tradition, respecting what society considers as what should be done. Taking up the example of marriage, it would be to get married because society imposes marriage as a tradition that must be followed.
Affective social action: it is not rational. It follows affections and passions, feelings and affections. It's the kind of action motivated by feelings, like love, passion, fear.
In the field of political sociology theory, Weber contributed a domination theory, which speaks of the existing modes of power. For the thinker, there are three types of power or domination exercised that give them some legitimacy:
Legal domination: takes place through laws. It is the power exercised by those that the law allowed to exercise it, such as representatives of the Legislative, Judiciary and Executive powers, in the case of our Republic.
the traditional domination: justified by tradition. For example, in a patriarchal society, the father exercises authoritarian power within the family and draws on tradition to exercise it.
Charismatic domination: it is exercised by charismatic leaders, who have the gift of attracting the support of the masses with their speeches, as if by magic. We have several examples of this type of leadership in world history, such as Hitler, Mussolini, Getulio Vargas and Fidel Castro.
Max Weber Influences
There are several thinkers who influenced Max Weber's sociology. As a great scholar, dedicated to reading and research, Weber borrowed several ideas for his work. We can highlight as central to his work the following thinkers:
Friedrich Nietzsche: Although the relationship and reading of Weber and the German philosopher Nietzsche on Christianity and religion are completely opposite, the sociologist adopted a notion of science and history very close to Nietzsche's philosophy, which did not accept the history defended by the positivists (based on simple, raw historical fact), but sought to understand people's interpretations of history and took into account the perspective on scientific truth.
Immanuel Kant: The German idealist philosopher was one of Weber's main influencers in understanding the existence of ideas that are situated in an immutable field, that present the ways about things, the concepts, the meanings etc.
John Stuart Mill: The English philosopher created the theory of morals utilitarian, which is a type of ethics based on actions that are useful to people, causing greater benefit to a greater number of them. This theory made Weber see in capitalism a utilitarian justification: to promote the benefit through work and the multiplication of money.
Alexis de Tocqueville: The French philosopher was a great supporter of liberalism, economic theory aligned with capitalism that provided economic freedom to undertake without State interference. Weber took notions from classical liberalism to compose his analysis of capitalism.
See more: Contemporary philosophy: ideas and authors
Summary
German sociologist and economist;
He analyzed the formation of capitalism;
Unlike Marx, he was in favor of capitalism;
He developed a theory that brought the origin of capitalism closer to the Protestant religion;
He developed the theory of social action as a method of sociological analysis.
by Francisco Porfirio
Sociology Professor
