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Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more generally. His ideas continue to influence social theory and social research, research. Born in Erfurt in 1864, Weber studied law and history in Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, and Heidelberg University, Heidelberg. After earning his doctorate in law in 1889 and habilitation in 1891, he taught in Berlin, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Weber, Marianne Schnitger two years later. In 1897, he had a breakdown after Max Weber Sr., his father died following an argument. Weber ceased teaching and travelled until the early 1900s. He recovered and wrote ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism''. During the First World War, he initia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials. Today, bureaucracy is the administrative system governing any large institution, whether publicly owned or privately owned. The public administration in many jurisdictions is an example of bureaucracy, as is any centralized hierarchical structure of an institution, including Corporation, corporations, Professional association, societies, Nonprofit organization, nonprofit organizations, and Social club, clubs. There are two key dilemmas in bureaucracy. The first dilemma relates to whether bureaucrats should be autonomous or directly accountable to their political masters. The second dilemma relates to bureaucrats' responsibility to follow preset rules, and what degree of latitude they may have to determin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment () is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modernized, bureaucratic, secularized Western society. In Western society, according to Weber, scientific understanding is more highly valued than belief, and processes are oriented toward rational goals, as opposed to traditional society, in which "the world remains a great enchanted garden". Enlightenment ambivalence Weber's ambivalent appraisal of the process of disenchantment as both positive ''and'' negative was taken up by the Frankfurt School in their examination of the self-destructive elements in Enlightenment rationalism. Jürgen Habermas has subsequently striven to find a positive foundation for modernity in the face of disenchantment, even while appreciating Weber's recognition of how far secular society was created from, and is still "haunted b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affectional Action
An affectional action (also known as an affectual, emotional, or affective action) is one of four major types of social action, as defined by Max Weber. Unlike the other social actions, an affectional action is an action that occurs as a result of a person's state of feeling, sometimes regardless of the consequences that follow it. Because the action is a result of our state of feeling, an affectional action may sometimes be described as irrational and reactive. An example of an affectional action can be the act of a father striking their daughter because of an action that she carried out that the father saw as frustrating. Max Weber's writings Max Weber describes the actions that we take as rarely occurring with the influence of only one of the four types of social actions. He describes the action as: "an uncontrolled reaction to some exceptional stimulus." The action taken by the individual is also described as a reaction that consists of a release as a result of emotional tensi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Action
In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course." Max Weber The basic concept was primarily developed in the non-positivist theory of Max Weber to observe how human behaviors relate to cause and effect in the social realm. For Weber, sociology is the study of society and behavior and must therefore look at the heart of interaction. The theory of social action, more than structural functionalist positions, accepts and assumes that humans vary their actions according to social contexts and how it will affect other people; when a potential reaction is not desirable, the action is modified accordingly. Action can mean either a basic action (one that has a meaning) or an advanced social action, which not only has a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secularisation
In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatically antithetical to religion. Secularization has different connotations such as implying differentiation of secular from religious domains, the marginalization of religion in those domains, or it may also entail the transformation of religion as a result of its recharacterization (e.g. as a private concern, or as a non-political matter or issue). The secularization thesis expresses the idea that through the lens of the European enlightenment modernization, rationalization, combined with the ascent of science and technology, religious authority diminishes in all aspects of social life and governance. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rationalization (sociology)
In sociology, the term rationalization was coined by Max Weber, a German sociologist, jurist, and economist. Rationalization (or rationalisation) is the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with concepts based on rationality and reason. The term rational is seen in the context of people, their expressions, and or their actions. This term can be applied to people who can perform speech or in general any action, in addition to the views of rationality within people it can be seen in the perspective of something such as a worldview or perspective (idea). For example, the implementation of bureaucracies in government is a kind of rationalization, as is the construction of high-efficiency living spaces in architecture and urban planning. A potential reason as to why rationalization of a culture may take place in the modern era is the process of globalization. Countries are becoming increasingly interlinked, and with the rise of technology, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protestant Work Ethic
The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, is a work ethic concept in sociology, economics, and history. It emphasizes that a person's subscription to the values espoused by the Protestantism, Protestant faith, particularly Calvinism, result in diligence, discipline, and frugality. The phrase was initially coined in 1905 by sociologist Max Weber in his book ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism''. Weber asserted that Protestant ethics and values, along with the Calvinist doctrines of asceticism and predestination, enabled the rise and spread of capitalism. Just as priests and caring professionals are deemed to have a vocation (or "calling" from God) for their work, according to the Protestant work ethic the "lowly" workman also has a noble vocation which he can fulfill through dedication to his work. Weber's book is one of the most influential and cited in sociology, although the thesis presented has been controvers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrimonialism
Patrimonialism is a form of governance in which the ruler governs on the basis of personal loyalties which are derived from patron-client relations, personal allegiances, kin ties and combinations thereof. Patrimonialism is closely related to corruption, opportunism and machine politics. It can contribute to underdevelopment and weak state capacity. In contrast to many other systems of governance, the ruler does not derive legitimacy from personal charisma or a sense of mission, but primarily through the ability to dole out rewards and punishments. Initially coined by Max Weber, patrimonialism stands in contrast to rational-legal bureaucracies, as there is no objective of efficiency in public administration and government staff are not advanced based on merit, experience and training. While patrimonialism is common in authoritarian regimes, it is not a necessary component of them. Democratic governments can also be characterized by patrimonial rule, in particular in fragile and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monopoly On Violence
In political philosophy, a monopoly on violence or monopoly on the legal use of force is the property of a polity that is the only entity in its jurisdiction to legitimately use force, and thus the supreme authority of that area. While the monopoly on violence as the defining conception of the state was first described in sociology by Max Weber in his essay '' Politics as a Vocation'' (1919), the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force is a core concept of modern public law, which goes back to French jurist and political philosopher Jean Bodin's 1576 work '' Les Six livres de la République'' and English philosopher Thomas Hobbes's 1651 book ''Leviathan''. Weber claims that the state is the "only human '' Gemeinschaft'' which lays claim to the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. As such, states can resort to coercive means such as incarceration, expropriation, humiliation, and death threats to obtain the population's compliance with its rule and thus mai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methodological Individualism
In the social sciences, methodological individualism is a method for explaining social phenomena strictly in terms of the decisions of individuals, each being moved by their own personal motivations. In contrast, explanations of social phenomena which assume that cause and effect acts upon whole classes or groups are deemed illusory, and thus rejected according to this approach. Or to put it another way, only group dynamics which can be explained in terms of individual subjective motivations are considered valid. With its bottom-up micro-level approach, methodological individualism is often contrasted with methodological holism, a top-down macro-level approach, and methodological pluralism. History within the Social Sciences This framework was introduced as a foundational assumption within the social sciences by Max Weber, and discussed in his book '' Economy and Society''. Within later schools of economic thought, such as the Austrian School, strict adherence to methodologic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Chances
Life chances (''Lebenschancen'' in German) is a theory in sociology which refers to the opportunities each individual has to improve their quality of life. The concept was introduced by German sociologist Max Weber in the 1920s. It is a probabilistic concept, describing how likely it is, given certain factors, that an individual's life will turn out a certain way. According to this theory, life chances are positively correlated with one's socioeconomic status.Blackwell, 2005 Opportunities in this sense refer to the extent to which one has access to resources, both tangible ones such as food, clothing and shelter, and intangible ones such as education and health care. Life chances comprise the individual's ability to procure goods, have a career and obtain inner satisfaction; in other words, the ability to satisfy one's needs. Theory Weberian life chances can be seen as an expansion on some of Karl Marx's ideas. Both Weber and Marx agreed that economic factors were important in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Cage
In sociology, the iron cage is a concept introduced by Max Weber to describe the increased rationalization inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. The "iron cage" thus traps individuals in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control. Weber also described the bureaucratization of social order as "the polar night of icy darkness". The original German term is ''stahlhartes Gehäuse'' (steel-hard casing); this was translated into "iron cage", an expression made familiar to English-speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1930 translation of Weber's ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism''. This choice has been questioned recently by scholars who prefer the more direct translation: "shell as hard as steel". Weber (in Parsons' translation) wrote: Iron cage of capitalism In his 1904 book ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'', Weber introduces the metaphor of an "iron cage": According to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
