Theories of Max Weber/

Theories of Max Weber
Presented by:
Amna Farooq 52
Ushna Zubair 13
Abeera Kaleem 56
Nida Zahara 28
Benish Iftikhar 42
Aneeqa Razzaq 35

What is Politics?
The activities associated with the governance of a
country or area, especially the debate between
parties having power.
Political thought, or political philosophy, is the study of
questions concerning power, justice, rights, law, and other
issues pertaining to governance.
Political thought is a generalized term which comprises
all thoughts, theories and values of a person or a group
of persons or a community on state and questions related
to the state.

On the question which is the best way of studying political thought, Gould and Thurs
by have opined that there are two ways to study political thought.
• The first is to list the all the political thought considered to be classic such as
Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Machiavelli's Prince, Hobbes' Leviathan, Locke's
Two Treatises on Government, Hegel's Philosophy of Rights, Marx's The Communist
Manifesto, Rawl's A Theory of Justice and to make a note of the constant questions
and approaches in them like: What is the meaning of freedom and equality? ,
• The second method is of general philosophical methodology and applying
it to political matters which means picking the central concepts problems,
methods, questions etc from the classics and adding to that list important
omission if any.

Max Weber:
Max Weber was the great German sociologist and political
economist was born on 21 April 1864. He worked in the
field of economics sociology, history, law, politics and
philosophy at the university of Berlin, Vienna and
university of Munich.
Theories of Max Weber:
• Theory of Social Action
• Theory of entrepreneurship
• Theory of Stratification

The Max Weber’s Theory of Social Action
His primary focus was on the subjective meanings that human
actors attach to their actions in their mutual orientations within
specific socio-historical contexts.
Weber was particularly interested in how social action is often
conceptualized by social actors in terms of means-ends chains. For
instance, a large bureaucratic organization will organize the activity
of social individuals by assigning each worker a particular role in a
hierarchy.

According to Weber, there are three key
terms:
1. Deuten
2. Verstehen
3. Erklaren

Deuten:
To interpret, to grasp the significance or subjective
meaning.
Verstehen:
To comprehend, to organize the subjective meaning of
human actions into concepts.
Erklaren:
Sociology studies the different aspects of human behaviour
particularly meaning, purpose and value of the human
behaviour.

Characteristics of Social Action:
The significant characteristics of Weber’s ideas are as follows:
 Social action may be influenced by an action of past, present
or future.
 Social action presupposes the existence of other individual
and some action by him.
 Necessity of subjective meaning.
 It is oriented in its course.

Stages of Social Action
 Rationally-Purposeful action
 Value-rational action
 Affective action
 Traditional action

a) Rationally-Purposeful action:
It is the social action that is instrumentally oriented. It occurs when the ends of
action are seen as means to higher, taken-for-granted ends.
a) Value-rational action:
It occurs when individuals use effective means to achieve goals that are set by
their values.
a) Affective action:
Emotional and impulsive action that is an end in itself.
a) Traditional action: It occurs when the ends and means of social
action are fixed by custom and tradition.

Theory of entrepreneurship helps us to
comprehend phenomena better. Understanding
theory one can apply the same in practice more
effectively. Various theories of entrepreneurship
have been propounded by thinkers they can be
classified in three categories:
1. Sociological
2. Economic
3. Cultural

Max Weber has propounded the theory of
religious belief. According to him,
entrepreneurism is a function of religious beliefs
and impact of religion shapes the entrepreneurial
culture.
Salient features of his theory are:
1. Spirit of capitalism.
2. Protestant ethic.
3. Adventurous spirit.
4. Inducement of profit.

Spirit of capitalism:
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.
Weber argues that the religious ideas of groups such as the
Calvinists played a role in creating the capitalistic spirit. He
argues that the modern spirit of capitalism sees profit as an
end in itself, and pursuing profile as virtuous.

Protestant ethic:
According to Max Weber the spirit of capitalism can be
grown only when the mental attitude in the society is
favorable to capitalism.
Adventurous Spirit:
Weber also made a distinction between spirit of capitalism
and adventurous spirit. According to him, the former is
influenced by the strict discipline whereas the latter is
affected by free force of impulse. Entrepreneurship culture
is influenced by both these factors.

Inducement of profit:
• Weber introduced the new businessman into
the picture of tranquil routine.
• The spirit of capitalism intertwined with the
motive of profit resulted in creation of greater
number of business enterprises.

Theory of Stratification
Max Weber formed a three-component theory of
stratification in which social difference is
determined by class, status, and power. The three-
component theory of stratification, more widely
known as Weberian stratification or the three
class system

Social stratification :
Social stratification, a system by which a society ranks categories of people
in a hierarchy, is based on four important principles:
 Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of
individual differences.
 Social stratification carries over from generation to generation.
 Social stratification is universal but variable.
 Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well.

Forms of Social Stratification
Social stratification assumes different forms in
different societies on different criteria. These
forms are slavery,
 Estate
 Class
 Caste

Three Sources of Power
Class is a person's economic position in a society, based on birth and individual
achievement.
Status refers to a person's prestige, social honor, or popularity in a society. Weber noted
that political power was not rooted solely in capital value but also in one's individual
status. Poets or saints, for example, can possess immense influence on society, often with
little economic worth.
Power refers to a person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. For
example, individuals in state jobs, such as an employee of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, or a member of the United States Congress, may hold little property or
status, but they still hold immense power.

Comparison of Karl Marx and Max Weber
During the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Max Weber
were two of the most influential sociologists. Both of them
tried to explain social change having place in a society at that
time. Their view on this from one hand is very different, but
on the other it had a lot of similarities.

Marx was only concerned with the economic issues and believed that
that issue is a central force that changed the society.
Weber, on the other hand, tried to look at the macro-sociological
phenomenon in his explanation
Marx s perspective was not based on the conflict of ideas, but rather on
the conflict of classes. This conflict is the results of a new mode of
production.
According to Marx, history would consist of epochs of modes of
production. He states that these modes of production are: primitive
communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, and then socialism and
communism.

Marx was concerned with the structure of society rather than the
meaning. He thought that it is the class structure which gave power to
the classes.
Weber, on the other hand, felt that once feudalism had been
abolished so was the class system. Class in feudal era was determined by
one’s blood line. If one were a serf then one’s son or daughter would
be born into the same class status. The same would hold true for any
other social status. The next in line for the throne of the king is his first
born son. With change this distinct line between classes vanished. They
both may have different reasons as to causes of change, but they both
agree as to what society has become.

Critique of Max Weber and Karl Marx
Karl Marx Max Weber
Religion is nothing
more than a method
used to spread the
ruling class ideology to
the working class.
Focuses on economic
influence on class
system
Religion is the key to explaining
the origins of capitalism.
Focuses on political and
generalizes it to the economics.
Economics alone cannot explain
the class system.

Conclusion
Weber's sociological theories had a great impact on
twentieth-century sociology. He developed the
notion of "ideal types,“.
Ideal type means ‘Ideal’ is a “conception or a
standard of something in its highest perfection.” It
refers to mental image or conception rather than a
material object. It is a model. The term type means a
kind, class or group as distinguished by a particular
character

• According to Weber, religion have a great role
in human life and human development.
• Ideas, beliefs, values and world view of human
societies that guide the way their members
acted even in economic sphere.

Theories of Max Weber/

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