Weber

Question 1

asceticism

Answer 1

avoidance of emotion and spontaneous enjoyment as demonstrated by the disciplined, methodical frugality and sobriety of the early calvinists.

Question 2

bureaucracy

Answer 2

formal organizational structure characterized by rationality legal authority, hierarchy, credentialed expertise, and impersonal rules and procedures.

Question 3

calling

Answer 3

intrinsically felt obligation toward work; work valued as its own reward, an opportunity to glorify God.

Question 4

charisma

Answer 4

non-rational authority held by an individual who is perceived by others to have a special personal gift for leadership.

Question 5

charismatic community

Answer 5

group of individuals (disciples) who follow and defer to a charismatic individual’s personal leadership authority.

Question 6

domination

Answer 6

authority/legitimacy; the probability that individuals and groups will be persuaded/obliged to comply with a given command.

Question 7

emotional action

Answer 7

subjectively meaningful, non-rational social action motivated by feelings.

Question 8

ideal type

Answer 8

an exhaustive description of the characteristics distinctive to, and expected of, a given phenomenon (e.g. of a bureaucracy).

Question 9

instrumental rational action

Answer 9

behavioral decisions or actions (of individuals, groups, organizations, etc.) based on calclating, strategic, cost–benefit analysis of goals and means.

Question 10

interpretive understanding

Answer 10

Verstehen; task of the sociol- ogist in making sense of the varied motivations that underlie meaningful action; because sociology studies human lived experience (as opposed to physical phe- nomena), sociologists need a methodology enabling them to empathically understand human-social behavior.

Question 11

legal authority

Answer 11

based on rational, impersonal norms and rules; imposed by the state and other bureaucratic organizations; dominant in modern societies.

Question 12

nation-state

Answer 12

rational, legal, bureaucratic actor; has specific territorial interests; entitled to use physical force to protect and defend its internal and external security.

Question 13

non-rational action

Answer 13

behavior motivated by emotion and/ or tradition rather than by reasoned judgment.

Question 14

other-worldly

Answer 14

non-material motivations; e.g., after-death salvation; the opposite of this-worldly.

Question 15

rational action

Answer 15

behavior motivated by a deliberate, analytical (reasoned) evaluation of a social actor’s (e.g. an individual, a group, an organization) goals/ends and the means by which to pursue them.

Question 16

routinization of charisma

Answer 16

the rational translation of individual charisma into organizational goals and procedures.

Question 17

subjectively meaningful action

Answer 17

individuals/groupsengage in behavior that is subjectively meaningful (or important) to them and which takes account of, and is oriented to, the behavior of others.

Question 18

traditional action

Answer 18

non-rational, subjectively meaningful social action motivated by custom and habit.

Question 19

traditional authority

Answer 19

derived from long-established traditions or customs; dominant in traditional societies but co-exists in modern society with legal-bureaucratic and charismatic authority.

Question 20

value neutrality

Answer 20

the idea that scientists and researchers do not inject their personal beliefs and values into the conduct, evaluation, and presentation of their research.

Question 21

value-rational action

Answer 21

rational, purposeful behavior (of individuals, groups, organizations, etc.) motivated by commitment to a particular value (e.g., loyalty, environ- mental sustainability, education) and independent of the probability of its successful outcome.

Question 22

Verstehen

Answer 22

German for “understanding”; refers to the pro- cess by which sociologists seek interpretive understanding of the subjective meanings that individuals and collectivities give to their behavior/social action.