Lecture notes and chapter notes Ch.4 Flashcards
Methodology
-Weber thought the task of sociology was to provide a needed “service” to history
-Weber said sociology performed only a “preliminary quite modest task” and sociology “seeks to formulate type concepts and generalized uniformities of empirical processes, this distinguishes it from history, which is oriented to the causal analysis and explanations of individual actions, structures and personalities possessing cultural significance” however Weber was able to combine both history and sociology.
-we can think of weber as a historical sociologist.
Weber and history
-Weber felt that history was appropriately concerned with both individuality and generality.
-the unification was accomplished through the development and utilization of general concepts (ideal types) in the study of particular individuals, events or societies.
-thus one can determine the causes that led to the differences
-Weber believed that history is composed of an inexhaustible array of specific phenomena
Verstehen
-Weber thought that sociologists had an advantage over natural scientists. this advantage resided in the sociologists ability to understand social phenomena, whereas the natural scientist could not gain a similar understanding of the behavior of an atom or chemical compound.
-Webers thoughts on Verstehen were relatively common among German historians of his day and were derived from a field known as hermeneutics. (a special approach to the understanding and interpretation of published writings) -Its goal was to understand the authors thinking as well as the basic structure of the text.
-to weber verstehen was a rational procedure of study
Causality
Weber argued that the protestant ethic was one of the causal factors in the rise of the modern spirit of capitalism.
-he believed we could have a special understanding of social life (verstehen), the causal knowledge of the social sciences is different from the causal knowledge of the natural sciences.
-the notion of adequate causality adopts the view that the best we can do in sociology is make probabilistic statements about the relationship between social phenomena; that is if x occurs then it is probable that y will occur.
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Ideal types
-an ideal type is a concept constructed by a social scientist, on the basis of his or her interests and theoretical orientation, to capture the essential features of some social phenomena.
-they are heuristic devices; they are to be useful and helpful in doing empirical research and in understanding a specific aspect of the social world.
causes of deviations
1- actions of bureaucrats that are motivated by misinformation
2- strategic errors, primarily by the bureaucratic leaders
3-logical fallacies undergirding the actions of leaders and followers
4-decisions made in the bureaucracy on the basis of emotion
5-any irrationality in the action of bureaucratic leaders and followers.
Weber said the ideal type was to be derived inductively from the real world of social history.
Historical ideal types
these relate to phenomena found in some particular historical epoch. (the modern capitalistic marketplace)
general sociological ideal types
these relate to phenomena that cut across a number of historical periods and societies. ( e.g. bureaucracy)
action ideal types
these are pure types of action based on the motivations of the actor ( e.g. affectual action)
structural ideal types
these are forms taken by the causes and consequences of social action (e.g traditional domination)
Values
value free sociology -social scientists should not let their personal values influence their scientific research in any way.
-weber was most clear about teachers and the need to control their personal values in the classroom.
-he thought values should be kept out of the actual collection of research data but there is a specific role for values in certain aspects of the research process.
-values are to be restricted to the time before social research begins, they should shape the selection of what we choose to study.
