Weber Midterm- Study Flashcards
Verstehen/interpretive understanding
To walk a mile in another shoes: essentially meaning to try and understand another person’s perspective
Ideal types
Analytic constructs against which real-life cases can be compared to. Something in its “purest form” used to compare to real life examples of it.
Rationalization
An ongoing process in which social interaction and institutions becomes increasingly governed by methodical procedures and rules
Weber and the “Death of God”
Weber refuses to champion science as “progress”, shares Nietzsche’s nihilism. Modern life was draining the world of meaning and left room for the rise of charismatic leaders.
3 Differences between Weber/Marx
- Weber thought that social life did not evolve according to some necessary law
- Weber thought that the development of societies could not be explained on the basis of a single/primary causal mechanism
- For Weber, instead of capitalism it was the process of rationalization and increasing dominance of bureaucracies that threatened to destroy individuality.
Protestant Ethic
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a study of the relationship between the ethics of ascetic Protestantism and the emergence of the spirit of modern capitalism (specifically . Weber argues that the religious ideas of groups such as the Calvinists played a role in creating the capitalistic spirit.
Social Action Theory
States that all humans actions/social actions are informed by unique experiences, desires and contexts that every human interacts with. There is not set pattern of behaviour in humans. Weber argued that social change is more likely to come from individual social actions than from top-down social alterations
4 types of social action
Value- Rational action, rational instrumental action, affective action, traditional action
Instrumental Rational action
The efficient pursuit of goals through calculating the pros and cons with the possible means (methods) for realizing (achieving) them.
Value-Rational Action
The behaviours based on the values/morals an individual has. Includes strategic selection of the methods similar to instrumental rational action, however it commands the individual to follow a line of conduct for their own sake because it is the right thing to do. Eg: returning a wallet to it’s owner.
Traditional Action
Behaviours are determined by habit or long-standing custom. Not concerned with maximizing efficiency or following an ethical principle. Eg: Eating turkey at thanksgiving dinner
Affective Action
Driven by impulsiveness or unchecked emotions. Eg: baseball player arguing an umpires called strike.
Grand Narrative/emancipation narratives
a meta-narrative that see’s some kind of interconnection between events, succession of social systems, in some way able to make sense of history. Grand narratives are oppressive because they are exclusionary and made subjectively.
Class
They are people who share “life chances” determined by “economic interests, opportunities for income”
Status
Determined by a “specific positive/negative, social estimation of honour”. Determined by lifestyle, education, inheritance, occupation, lifestyle.
Party
Socially organized power. Aimed at “influencing a communal action no matter what its content may be”
Legitimacy
The publicly invoked reasons for obeying or complying with the commands from authority. Eg: the president can exercise power because the position of president is legitimated by society
Domination
The likelihood of a certain person or population will obey a given order. Every given form of domination implies a minimum of voluntary consent/compliance.
3 ideal types of legitimate domination
Rational/legal authority, traditional authority, charismatic authority
Rational-legal authority
This form of domination is based on the rule of the law. Legitimacy rests on the belief in the legality of enacted rules by the authority.
Traditional authority
Authority of established belief and traditions. Eg: Queens, Kings, Tribal Chieftans
Charismatic Authority
Obedience is legitimated by the leader’s gift of charisma demonstrated through feats of heroism or revelations, miracles. Loyalty is to a single person not an office or position. Eg: Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi
Routinization of Charisma
Charismatic authority is socially unstable and historically tied to an individual leader. If a charismatic community is to persist it must at some point change.
Charismatic Routinization Cont’d
Weber described the process where a charismatic community transitions into rational or traditional authority structures routinization.
Commodification of Charisma
Hugh Urban argues that in the contemporary world charisma is more likely to be commodified than routinized. Meaning charisma is turned into something that can be bought and sold. Eg: Trump Mega hats
Bureaucratic Authority
- Authority is hierarchically structured, chain of command
- Selection of personnel is competitive and based upon demonstrated merit.
- A specialized division of labour allows for more efficient completion of assigned tasks
- Bureaucracies are governed by formal, impersonal rules that regulate all facets of the organization
“Cage as hard as iron”
Weber contended that bureaucracies formal rules and procedures led to the loss of individual freedom.
Calling
Calling refers to the idea that the highest form of moral obligation of the individual is to fulfill his duty in worldly affairs. This projects religious behavior into the day-to-day world. Relates to the protestant ethic
