weber Flashcards
(99 cards)
1
Q
biog
A
- Born 1864 in Erfurt; died 1920 in Munich. Protestant bourgeois household.
- Early exposure to politics through father, a liberal-nationalist MP. Long estranged from mother, who was deeply ascetic in religiosity.
o - Breakdown in 1897 following father’s death and academic overwork; resumed writing in 1903.
- Social scienrist, lawyer and politican
2
Q
purpose
A
- Aim to uncover the ‘development of that Menchentum
cultural q
political q
3
Q
development of menchentum
A
‘ curated by the ‘conjunction of religious and econ components’
o Manschentum- humanity- undergone drastic changeas the sprit of modern capitalism swept up Germany and western Europe following the reformation
o Concepts of calling and demystification embedded themselves into soc
o Rapid industrialisation
Origin own world- rational capitalist and self centered
4
Q
cultural q
A
o Weber grew nation triumphed over fr and unified in 1871
Superiority or prevelance gemran kultur over that of fr
o Understand own world- Germany was as was in reformation tumultuous change – politically econ and internat
Create an ‘allegory about Germany in [his] own day’ – harry liebersohn
o Protestantism lent capitalist spirit cultivating sense of obligation hard work and udty
o Religion mechanism – soc signif change- weber howpo
5
Q
political q
A
o Germany parties and factions divided on religious lines
o Weber sympathetic to liberal protestant side- evangelical social congress
Opposing measures passed by catholic center party
Esc hoped to improve lives of working people
o
*
6
Q
methodology
A
not universal laws
ideal types
verstehen
value-freedom
7
Q
not universal laws
A
- Distinction made clear in his objectivity of koweldge in the social science stated that when considering an event and why it occurred
o ‘the question of causes is not a q of laws but of concrete causa lreltaionsips’
o Reject abstract categorisation comes with uniervsal alws - Concern
8
Q
concern for universal laws
A
‘heiristic \ implications of Marxist laws and evolutionary constructs
o ‘dangerous’ if presented as ‘empirically valued’ overly simpliy info an causation
o Historians give enogh context to achiev e’science of relaity’ historians and social scientist want to understand distcintive character of the reality of the life in which we are placed’
9
Q
what are ideal types
A
not ‘historicla reality’ certainly not ‘true reaity’ rather create clear conceptual framweorks ‘against which reality is measured’
* Understand past in its own terms
10
Q
aim of ideal types
A
contextualise human behavour social pehnomena and course historical events- ascetic prot to capitalist spirit
11
Q
Marx ideal types
A
o Weber ideal types- ‘by far the most important example of ideal typical constructions’
o Utilised to articulate harmful effects of capitalism by constructing ideal types of social classes and eocn systems
12
Q
sombart ideal types
A
o Econ theorist rather than historian
o Econ system was an ideal type
An ‘essence of the concrete facts’ which could be employed to understand the concrete historical process- support webe rmethodlogy
13
Q
example ideal type
A
o Pe- ‘ascetic prot’ demonstrate how religious beliefs contributed to capitalist rationality
o How does ascetic prot lead to capitalism
baxter
14
Q
how does ask prot lead to capitalism
A
Ascetic prot turn away ceremonial salvation of Catholicism – fiath and grace
Whilst salvation preordained, but peple work tirelessly to prove that they are of elect status, among the saved- Calvinists tornmented by unknowabliilty of fate
from cont methodical work fulfil roel ‘calle dto do’
Transition away communal and religaios ethics- rationalisation of german society- moral disciplei over relationships with others
Rhetoric of maxmimsation capitalistic- output and production became ones duty to god
15
Q
baxter
A
Extreme side of ascetic prot ideal type
‘too much sleeping’ was a seirous problem as ‘time is infinitely valuable’ and with ‘every hour lost [sleeping] is lost to labour for the glory of god – amx each day
Rhetoric of dedication symbolic ruthless capitalist mindset
‘wealth deos not exempt people from work’ an ‘unwllingness to work is sypmtpmatic of the lack of grace’
Religiosity wowrk not money but pleasing good- proving elect status
16
Q
why use ideal types
A
the objectivity of knowledge in social science
to manage indent complexity. of reality
meaningful purposeful intuit
analytical clarity
aid causal explanation not description
17
Q
how ideal types reality
A
o To manage the infinite complexity of reality
Endless reality but human mind fineit so mental constructs- heuristics help us
Simplify concepts- eg ideal type proestant capitalist- rationalism as truning away form Catholicism
18
Q
ideal types- meaningful purposeful inquir
A
What anlysing and why- coeehrent framwork
o Abstraction enables deeper analysis and ‘syntehsis of the ‘real’ causal connections’ – logic of hsitorcial explanation
19
Q
analytical clarity from ideal types
A
Highlight essential features of social pehnomena in purest most logical form- intentionally one sided and exag for clarity
Heuristic devices compare and contrast reliaty
20
Q
aid causal explanation not description - purpose ideal type
A
Hwo even if real world cases never fully match ideal type
21
Q
verstehen
A
- Interpretative understanding: seeks to understand meaning of social action from the point of view of the actor.
- Opposed to positivist sociology: not merely about laws and patterns, but subjective meaning.
- Action ≠ behaviour: must be oriented toward meaning.
- Connected to hermeneutic tradition (Dilthey): social sciences distinct from natural sciences.
22
Q
verstehen - sci essay
A
- Social scientist- why and how society functioned as did
o Drove human beavious - Ideal types
o Categroise motivations two types osicla action
Eg capitalism and cpiatalist mindset
23
Q
value freedom
A
- Wertfreiheit – social science should not prescribe values, but clarify the consequences of value choices.
- Fierce critic of ethical universalism: all knowledge is perspectival, shaped by values and cultural horizons.
- ‘value free wissenschaft’ as ‘one of his most passionately held bales’
24
Q
example value freedom
A
logic of historical explanation
death of Julius Caesar
25
value freedom logic of historical explanation
Importance of contextialisation understand historical events
It is precisiely those ‘historical condutions’ which determine the sucession of events’
Historical evenst cannot be understood in their ‘concrete relaity’ if they are viewed in tehir ‘individuality’ – history is a process rather than series of discrete events
26
value free- death of Julius Caesar
Comp lawyer v historian approach
Lawyer application of motivations na dthe series of event to criminal law
Historian concerned with circumstances of death and conseuqcnes on ‘course of world history’
27
key themes weber
rat
capitalism
authority and legit
28
rationalisation
* Defining characteristic of Western modernity.
* Refers to increasing dominance of calculable, efficient procedures.
* Bureaucracy, law, science, capitalism: all become more impersonal, formalised.
* “The iron cage” – individuals are trapped in systems of instrumental rationality.
* Contrast with traditional and charismatic forms of authority and knowledge
29
authority and legit
three types of legit domination - trad charismatic legal rational
modernity characterise legal-rational authority
30
trad authority
grounded in custom eg monarchy
31
charismatic autority
founded on personal qualities (e.g. prophets, revolutionaries).
always unstable must routinise or collapse
32
legal-rational authoirty
rooted in law typical of bureaucratic states
33
religious context
union 1817
* Announced by King Frederick William III of Prussia in 1817, on the 300th anniversary of the Reformation.
* Aimed to unite Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Prussia into a single Evangelical (Evangelische) Church.
34
what motivated 1817 union
o Desire for national unity post-Napoleonic Wars.
o State centralisation: tying religion more closely to the monarchy and bureaucracy.
o Liturgical simplification: promote harmony and reduce theological conflict.
35
wbwer view 1817 union
* Not directly addressed, but seen as part of a broader bureaucratisation and rationalisation of religion
* Disenchantmento for eligious authority- lost charisma from luther spiritual revolt to monarchical management of doctrine, inner conviction to liturgical conformity
36
Prussian church weber view
* A case of “routinised charisma” — no longer spiritually vital, but administratively efficient
37
state control weber view of church
* Reduces religion to cultural service; undermines authenticity and prophetic critique
* Church became an arm of state admin
* King effectively chief bishop and clergy civil servants
* Depersonalised rliegion as faith becomes administered
* lose ability to critique
38
cykural prot - weber view *
Ethically serious, but hollowed out — part of the “iron cage” of modernity
* Prot part of national identity moral culture rathe rthan world transforming ethic- shift move from calling to profession
39
where did menschentum interest come from
second response to Rachfael
40
protestantism
* Protestant asceticism = inner-worldly, disciplined, rational.
o Closest puritanism
* Lutheranism and especially Calvinism gave rise to “this-worldly asceticism”.
* Beruf = calling; secular labour becomes religiously significant.
41
prot ideał type
o Prot – ‘move to factories to fiill the pper ranks of skilled labour and admin positions’
‘Greater tendancy to develop econ rat’ moved from ‘other-worldiness of catholicsm ‘
As divulged risk whilst ctahoclis comfort
Max profit and fulfilment of conlusion
‘alleged materialistic joy of living in prot’
42
catholic ideal. type
o Catholics- trad, content with outdated pirncles with nostalgia community village based econ of late medivale period
Aim skilled ‘master craftsmen’
Catholic ‘envrionment’ favours an education which emphasises ‘home community and the parental home’ – lack of ambition
‘catholics seek security’
43
reformation
o Refomrtaion profess- ‘emancipation from econ traditionalism ‘
Breaking away stifling and overbearing catholic church
‘regulation of peoples public an dprivate life’- catholics content with
Trun away catholic church shift towards rationalism
Bourgous capitgalism to new mode rational lebensfahrung
44
prot v catholic shift important
o comparison also explain ger condition in Europe- victorious over fr in franco Prussian war 1871
French catholic- ‘greatly interested in the enjoyment of life ‘
Whilst ger prot more driven and ‘absrobed in wroldy econ life’
45
historical opinions - port ideal type
o Sombart
Emphasised sugnif jewish people and religion in ‘sprit of cpaitalims’
role persecuted minorities playeds
46
ombart- jews
Sombart referred to 17tc England and Cromwell veneration for old testament indicative of influence jewish religion on puristan
Blur disticntions Christians and ejws, jews just as signif in drving cpaitlaims
47
sombre ethnic minority
‘rapid rise o fth eurge to make money’ in western eurpe foriegners iving tehre0j ewish
48
religious as a force
* Sees religious ideas as autonomous cultural forces, not reducible to class interest.
the sociology of religion traces development of world religions- confucianism , hinduism islam
weber comp sociology shows why capitalism only Arose in the west
49
confucianism
harmony with world, hence not conducive to capitalism.
50
hinduism
otherworldly mysticism, supports caste hierarchy.
51
islam
warrior ethic, communalist; lacks routinised asceticism.
52
religious background- interest weber
* Despite his disenchantment with religioin clearly interested in theorlogy
* Imbedded itself within uni system- 4 faculties law, phil, thelogy medicine- theology becoming more deifned as own branch
o As part of bb theology aprty ofintellectual club and so wanted to know what said
53
bb
bildungsburgetum
middle classes who sought connection to education as a profession- taught in gymnasium, prof, schools
54
politics
politics as a vocation
nation and state
55
politics as a vocation
(1919)
* Defines politics as “striving for a share of power or for influence on the distribution of power.”
* Advocates ethic of responsibility (vs. ethic of conviction).
* Politician must be able to face “the diabolical powers that lurk in all violence”.
* “Power is the means of politics. But the end is the state.”
* Pessimistic view of modern mass democracy: rule of bureaucrats and charismatic plebiscitary leaders
56
nation and state
* State = monopoly of legitimate violence over a given territory.
* Strong concern over Germany's postwar fate: fears a weak state.
* Nationalism: rooted in shared culture and language, not race.
* Strong individual must stand firm amid "the polar night of icy darkness".
57
scence and knowledge
science as a vocation
objectivity and limits
58
science as a vocation
Vocation (1917)
* Rejects idea that science provides meaning or values.
* Science offers clarity, method, and analysis – but not answers to the ultimate questions of existence.
* Disenchantment (Entzauberung) = progressive demystification of the world.
* “The fate of our times is characterised by rationalisation and intellectualisation and, above all, by the ‘disenchantment of the world’.”
59
objectivity and limits science
* No “view from nowhere”; all knowledge is rooted in cultural values.
* Objectivity possible only in method, not in ends.
* Stresses historical contingency: there are no eternal values, only historically contingent ones.
60
methodological contributions
* Founding figure of interpretive sociology.
* Major influence on cultural history, anthropology, political science.
* Influences thinkers like Parsons, Geertz, Foucault.
61
critiques
* Protestant Ethic thesis heavily criticised by Tawney, Trevor-Roper, and Marxists for overestimating religious impact.
* Seen as elitist: romanticises charismatic leadership, underestimates democratic institutions.
* Bureaucracy critique later seen as prescient but incomplete: does not fully anticipate welfare state or technocracy.i
62
intellectual context
German historicism
neitzsche
contract with Marx
63
contrast with Marx
* Marx: economic base determines culture.
Weber: ideas, beliefs, and culture shape the economy.
* Marx: progress and revolution.
Weber: ambiguity, tragedy, contingency.
64
nietzsche
* Weber adopts Nietzschean tragic tone: the loss of meaning in modernity.
* No return to tradition: we must live with disenchantment and ethical pluralism.
* Against any form of “happy modernity”.g
65
German historicism
* Deeply influenced by Dilthey and Rickert: social sciences distinct due to human intentionality.
* Critical of Hegelian teleology: no final end to history.
* Contrasts with Ranke: less faith in divine purpose or moral progress.
66
style and structure
* Dense, often aphoristic German prose.
* Synthesis of empirical detail and high-level theorising.
* Writes both sociological treatises and philosophical reflections.
* Narrative style aimed less at evoking the past (cf. Ranke), more at analysing structures of action and authority
67
Weberian tensions
* Pessimism vs. Ethical autonomy
* Scientific neutrality vs. passionate engagement
* Disenchantment vs. Charisma
* Rationalisation vs. Individual freedom
* Ideal types vs. messy social reality
68
relationship to historicism
* Weber emerges out of the German historicist tradition (Herder, Ranke, Droysen, Dilthey), but breaks decisivelywith its assumptions:
drusen
dilthey
69
weber breaks decisively with its assumptions
o Ranke: believed in objectivity and divine providence; saw history as expressing God's will through the particular.
o Weber: denies any transcendent meaning in history; objectivity only in method, not in interpretation or value.
70
droysen - historicism
, he sought Verstehen, but Weber’s ideal types were more formally rationalised and less reliant on intuition.
71
dilthey historicism
lived experience” (Erlebnis) becomes for Weber a rational reconstruction of subjective meaning.
72
historiographical reception
early German reception
marxist critique
parsons and American functionalism
postwar- weber as a prophet of modernity
later theoretical uses
73
early German reception
* In Germany, Weber was initially marginal in mainstream historical circles.
* Meinecke (Historicism): praised
troeltsch
74
meinecke
(Historicism): praised Weber’s moral seriousness but was ambivalent about his tragic disenchantment — preferred the organic cultural unity of Volksgeist.
75
troeltsch
close colleague, saw Weber’s sociology as indispensable for understanding religion but more pessimistic and fragmented than his own ideal of cultural synthesis.
76
marxist critique
o Undervaluing class struggle and material conditions.
o Obscuring the capitalist system’s exploitative nature by focusing on cultural origins.
lukacs
gramsci
77
lukacs
): saw Weber’s methodology as part of bourgeois ideology — reducing historical materialism to “subjective meaning”.
78
gramsci
Gramsci praised Weber’s attention to ideology, especially religion and culture as sources of consent.
79
parsons and American functionalism
o Translated The Protestant Ethic.
o Saw Weber as a precursor to functionalism: shared belief in value systems as ordering forces.
o Criticism: Parsons domesticated Weber, downplaying the tragic, ethical conflict and turning his work into a stable model of modernisation.
80
postwar- webe Prophet modernity
WWII intellectuals turned to Weber to explain:
o Rise of fascism (charismatic domination).
o Bureaucratic control (legal-rational systems).
o Collapse of religious meaning in a secular world.
mommsen
81
mommsen
key interpreter — Weber was not merely a cultural theorist but a “liberal nationalist” grappling with the failures of German modernity.
82
weber commentary on Marx
* Deep respect for Marx’s empirical work; taught Capital in seminars.
* But rejected economic determinism: “Not ideas, but material interests may govern conduct—yet very frequently the 'world images' created by ideas have determined the conduct of interests.”
* Argued that Marx overlooked the cultural foundations of modern economic behaviour.
83
weber on ranke
* Critical of historicism’s claim to moral neutrality or divine insight.
* Thought Ranke’s appeal to divine providence was a refusal to grapple with modernity’s ethical pluralism.
* Methodologically admired the focus on documentary rigour and contextualisation — but wanted to extract analytical tools from this method
84
on Nietzsche
* Stylistic and tonal affinity — both write as tragic philosophers of modernity.
* Weber rejects Nietzsche’s anti-asceticism: sees asceticism as a world-making force.
* Nietzsche’s will to power contrasts with Weber’s rationalised authority.
* However, both share a sense of value-conflict, and the impossibility of unified meaning.
85
on comte and positivism
* Rejected Auguste Comte and other positivists: sociology cannot emulate the natural sciences.
* Social science must be interpretive, not predictive.
* Cautious of law-like generalisations in history — every case must be understood sui generis.on
86
on tolstoy
in Science as a Vocation:
o Tolstoy’s call for moral clarity and religious faith is no longer viable in the modern world.
o The modern intellectual must bear the burden of meaninglessness.
87
legacy in hist
cultural turn
secularisation debates
global history and comparitige sociology
methodology
88
cultural turn
is central to the cultural turn in historiography from the 1970s:
o Emphasis on symbols, ideas, worldviews (Geertz, Darnton, Chartier).
o Turn away from deterministic models of historical causation.
89
secularisation debates
disenchantment thesis remains foundational.
* Critics argue modernity has not uniformly secularised — José Casanova, Talal Asad challenge Eurocentrism in Weber’s model.
90
global history and comparative sociology
* Inspired world historians to move beyond Eurocentric narratives of modernity.
* But some (e.g. Jack Goody) argue Weber overstated the uniqueness of the West.
91
what does weber offer *
Weber offers:
o A method (ideal types, verstehen).
o A diagnosis (rationalisation, disenchantment).
o A warning (the iron cage of modernity).
92
was weber present minded in approach to religion - loa
- Loa endeavbours to avoid anachronism through ideal types, conetxtualisation, explanation although inevitably the construction of ideal tyeps and contextual tools are inherently an application of his present mind and a historian as roth points out
- So largely not as endevaoured to be reposmsiblye and create distance yet inevitable by construction and metholdogy does impart some of his perspective and his ambitions too were to contextualise own day
93
weber present minded chapter headings
- Present day references- constructions- roth
- Ideal yeps
- Abstraction and contextialisation
o Value free wiseenschaft
o Detah of Julius ceasar
- Contextialisation rleiegious circumstances rise of capitalism
94
present day ref
o Pe- capitalism is ‘the most fateful force in our modern life’,
o Aim gto contextualise the origins of this ‘fateful force’
o Present mindendess is inante- compare past torpesent day
o Guenther roth- argued’ present day analsy’
o Reply to fishcer
95
what was meant by present day analyst
o ‘weber was emphatic’ that he cocnepts and ideas which built an account of the past ‘could not be derived from the historical agents theemsleves’ but only from the ‘present-day analyst’
Historical meaning is constructed not recovered
No one in 17thc holland or Prussia thought of themslevs as embodying the ‘spirit of capitalism;
But weber imposes that conceptual frame to make sense of the econ-cultural shift they were part of
Thus rejecting historicism ranke the belief that each historical period is internally cohesent and must be understood purely on its own terms
96
reply to Fischer
- Fishcer argued weber anachronistic
- Weber utilise dmodern day example
- Econ attitude stil varied, dictated by ‘religious confession’ comp early 20thc system of ‘mechanically based capitalism’ which imeported workers ‘ealry capitalism
o Arguing that modern industrial setting capitalist production fully mechnaised, unskilled imported
o Leabourers foreign catholic lack ascetic eactors
97
not present minded- act of abstraction
o Distance from a historian and their work- avoid anachronism
o Reducing the chance of an imporistion fo ‘present mindedness’
o Ideal types
o Not weber invention entirely conception or adoption
98
capitalism
- a phenomenon ‘identical with the pursuit of profit’
- a reflection o n the rationalism of society towards making more selfish yet logical decisions
o ‘the pursuit of wealth’ had become ‘stripped of its religious and ethical menaing’
o instead being ‘assc with purely mundane passions which often actually give it the character of sport’ ‘a cage’
o contextialise this
-
99
