Economy and Society (1922) - Weber Flashcards
What is the difference between domination and legitimacy?
Domination: exercise of power, probability of someone obeying command
Legitimacy: manner in which domination established & legitimised (don’t need force or violence or threat)
authority : legitimate basis for such domination.
What are the three forms of legal authority?
- Traditional
- Legal-rational
- Charismatic
What is traditional legitimacy?
Based on long-standing customs, where power is justified by tradition. Legitimacy is claimed & believed by virtue of sanctity of age-old traditions & powers
Examples: Monarchy, Patrimonialism (patron-client relationship, gov is patron & people is its client), Religion
What is legal-rational legitimacy?
- Acquired from law & constructed from reliance on society’s rules & laws.
- Rely on belief in legality of enacted rules & right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue command
- basis of modern democracies
- Legal norms established by agreement on consistent & abstract rules; Members obey within capacity
- usually tied to calculability, rationalism & capitalism as capitalist market economy demands public administration to be discharged efficiently
- based on rules, laws, procedures.
Leaders derive their power from their position within a legal framework - Examples include democratic systems like Singapore’s meritocratic bureaucracy.
What are the types of bureaucracy that is characterised by legal-rational legitimacy?
Collegial Bureaucratic: clear hierarchy, defined sphere of competence, free contractual relationship, selected on technical qualifications, salaries are fixed (e.g. meritocracy in Singapore)
Monocratic bureaucracy (the most advanced form of rationality according to Weber): Highest degree of efficiency, domination through technical knowledge, Tied to capitalism (Problems with this: Plutocracy, level by class, impersonal)
What is charismatic legitimacy?
Authority is derived from divine origin; Legitimacy is based on the leader’s exceptional qualities or extraordinary accomplishments, inspiring loyalty and obedience from followers. Recognition freely given & freely taken away; Emotional communal relationship; Great Revolutionary force
- Problem with charismatic: exists for a short while and power of the religion/organisation is taken away when the leader dies
- Examples: Lee Kuan Yew, Joseph Smith, Hitler (who came to power shortly after the publication of Economic & Society)
How is Weber’s types of legitimacy misapplied in the Phillippines?
Phillippines is a failed state as they did not live up to rational-legal standards.
Some argue the Philippines operates under traditional authority due to its entrenched patron-client relationships & local power structures.
However, Weber’s concept of traditional authority often assumes a society where leaders untrained or uneducated, relying solely on inherited customs.
Instead of examining patron-client relationship btwn US & Philippines, one can examine the patrimonialism within Philippines that pushed many Fillipinos to the US
While the country has formal laws & bureaucratic systems, undermined by patrimonialism, preventing success of rational-legal governance.
What are examples of attributing Weber to Orientalism?
modern capitalism could only emerge in the West because it required an attitude of commercial gain & profit (spirit of capitalism) which emerged from Protestantism in Europe
Weber saw capitalism as an advanced, progressive economic system –> it is “good & desirable” –> making Western society seem superior in this aspect
How does the institutionalisation of legal-rational authority lead to iron cage of rationality?
institutionalisation of legal-rational authority in the form of bureaucracy (highly structured, formalised and impersonal organisation)
lead to organisation being inflicted by excessive bureaucratisation (specialisation, hierarchy, rules, impersonality)
develop pathologies of bureaucratic organisation - not allowing for variation in performance and thus, there is little scope for initiative and creativity
What is Weber’s definition of sociology in Economy and Society?
Sociology is “a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects.”
What does Weber mean by “social action”?
Social action occurs when acting indiv attaches subjective meaning to their behavior & this meaning oriented toward behavior of others.
What are ideal types, according to Weber?
Abstract models that emphasize specific aspects of a phenomenon.
They are tools for analysis and do not exist in reality.
“Ideal types are like unicorns—beautiful—but they do not exist.”
Meaning: They are theoretical constructs, not empirical realities.
What role does corruption play in patron-client relationships, as discussed by Weber?
In systems like the Philippines, patron-client relationships (e.g., “utang na loob”) create a culture of dependence and inefficiency.
These relationships hinder modernization and economic progress.
What is the Singapore model of authority, and how does it reflect Weberian ideas?
Combines traditional values with rational-legal authority.
Emphasizes discipline, pragmatism, and meritocracy to ensure economic success and social cohesion.
Why should Weber’s theories be applied cautiously to Southeast Asia?
His theories were developed for Western contexts and may not fully account for cultural and historical differences in SEA.
Applying his ideas universally risks oversimplification.
