Contribution of Max Weber in Social Science

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Contribution of Max Weber in Social Science

Introduction

Max Weber is a German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the “Protestant ethic,” relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber’s profound influence on sociological theory stems from his demand for objectivity in scholarship and from his analysis of the motives behind human action (Mitzman, 2020)

Max Weber is known as a principal architect of modern social science along with Karl Marx and Emil Durkheim. Weber’s wide-ranging contributions gave critical impetus to the birth of new academic disciplines such as sociology as well as to the significant reorientation in law, economics, political science, and religious studies. His methodological writings were instrumental in establishing the self-identity of modern social science as a distinct field of inquiry; he is still claimed as the source of inspiration by empirical positivists and their hermeneutic detractors alike.

Early Life and Education

Max Weber was born on April 21, 1864. His father, Max Weber Sr., was a politically active lawyer with a penchant for “earthly pleasures,” while his mother, Helene Fallenstein Weber, preferred a more ascetic lifestyle. The conflicts this created in their marriage acutely influenced Max. Still, their house was full of prominent intellectuals and lively discourse, an environment in which Weber thrived. Growing up, he was bored with school and disdained his teachers, but devoured classic literature on his own.

Weber studied law, history, philosophy and economics for three semesters at Heidelberg University before spending a year in the military. He passed the bar exam in 1886 and earned his Ph.D. in 1889, ultimately completing his habitation thesis, which allowed him to obtain a position in academia.

During World War I Weber voluntarily service in medical and published three more books in sociological context on religion named,  The Religion of China (1916), The Religion of India (1916) and Ancient Judaism (1917-1918), contrasted their respective religions and cultures with that of the Western world by weighing the importance of economic and religious factors, among others, on historical outcomes. Weber intended to publish additional volumes on Christianity and Islam, but he contracted the Spanish flu and died in Munich on June 14, 1920. His manuscript of Economy and Society was left unfinished; it was edited by his wife and published in 1922 (Biography.com).

Explain the Bureaucracy of Max Weber

Bureaucracy is a generally dispersed idea in Sociology and in Organizational Theory studies, and it right now has a picture where negative viewpoints are frequently featured. In any case, for Max Weber, organization has unmistakable highlights that vary, in fluctuated circumstances, from the portrayal and application regularly attributed to this model of authoritative organization. This survey targets adding to advancing the idea of organization as at first proposed by Max Weber, talking about it in its possibilities (Ferreira, 2019).

Max Weber proposes the concept of Bureaucracy in a context in which he considers rationalization of society as inevitable, causing a growing impersonality in the social relationship, disenchantment of the world. In short, bureaucracy is the phenomenon of affirmation of the rationalization of the world. Rationalization boosted the project of modernity by enabling the application of the general principles of reason to the conduct of human problems, fostering the ability to respond to unstable environments and to manage the inherent complexity. Rational action aimed at controlling uncertainty; rational calculation would limit uncertainty in a world that could be controllable. Two conceptions of rationality are put forward by Weber. Formal rationality regards the means-end relationship and the accomplishment of practical and indisputable ends, through a precise calculation of the means adapted to the attainment of those ends. Real rationality concerns the increasing theoretical dominance of reality through increasingly precise and abstract concepts (Ferreira, 2019; p, 24).

Bureaucracy is an unavoidable idea, both in like manner language and even in authoritative investigation, regardless of whether in the basic sense. Administration/ bureaucracy, by and large, is related with negative highlights of associations, for example, delays in activity, activity focused on murky principles, unreasonable solicitations for documentation, or even innumerable troubles in meeting clients or clients' solicitations( Ferreira, 2019).

References

Ferreira, S. S. (2019). The Concept of Bureaucracy by Max Weber . International Journal of Social Science Studies .

Biography.com, w. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Biography.com website: https://www.biography.com/scholar/max-weber

Ferreira, S. S. (2019). The Concept of Bureaucracy by Max Weber . International Journal of Social Science Studies .

Mitzman, A. (2020). Retrieved from www.britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Weber-German-sociologist