Life and Work

Life and Work

Introduction

Maximilian Carl Emil Weber ( April 21 of 1864 - Munich , June 14 of 1920 ) was a philosopher , economist , jurist , historian ,political scientist and sociologist German , considered one of the founders of the study modern , anti-positivist , the sociology and public administration . His most important relate to the sociology of religion and government, but also wrote extensively in the field of economy. His most recognized work is the essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which was the start of work on the sociology of religion.

Weber argued that religion was one of the most important influences in the development of Western and Eastern cultures. In another of his famous works, Science as Vocation, Politics as a Vocation, Weber defined the state as an entity that holds the monopoly on violence and the means of coercion, a definition that was instrumental in the study of political science, modern in the West. His theory was widely known retrospectively as the Weber thesis.

WEBER in the famous first sentence of Economy and Society, defines sociology as

"... a science that aims to understand interpretation interpreting social activity, and from there to explain causally its development and its effects.”

From this one can derive the three stages of all sociology: understanding, interpretation and explanation, which should not be, regarded as rungs of a ladder but as forms of convergent analysis of social reality, no room to consider a "superior" to another.

'Understanding' social action means opting for the "value-neutral", both on moral grounds as the nature of the theory. No need to put themselves in the social actors to understand them or, as in Economy and Society: "It is not necessary to be Caesar to understand Caesar." No social scientist has the right to exploit their situation to flaunt their innermost feelings, and the pure fact that social science is essential to carefully select materials, axiological neutrality is essential to the success of the analysis, but there is value-neutral scientific understanding of society. As he describes in a posthumous article, (1927):

"We know of ideals that can be demonstrated scientifically. Surely the most arduous task is to draw the line from our own chest in a cultural period that is so subjective. But people have no dream paradise, or any street of gold to offer either in this world or the next, either in thought or action, and is a stigma on our human dignity that the peace of our souls can never be as large as the one who dreams of peace in this paradise "

The absence of doctrinal spirit, surrender to transform society to achieve interpret it to be parallel to the passionate need for clarity in the analysis. As one will see the "ethics of responsibility arises from the requirement of understanding over prejudice and utopia (Whimster, 2001).

Discussion

Social Actions

"Interpret" social action becomes possible through the construction of "ideal type". An "ideal type" is an abstract construction of provisional status, capable of ordering the chaos, the infinite diversity of reality. Not express "the" truth, that while substantial is an idealized concept vain, but one of its aspects, through emphasizing the qualitative features of reality. Its value, so, utilitarian in that it allows greater intelligibility of reality. The "ideal type" matches a "mental image obtained by rationalizations of utopian nature," ...