Gender and politicsGroup 6

Theories of Max WeberPresented by:

Amna Farooq 52Ushna Zubair 13Abeera Kaleem 56Nida Zahara 28Benish Iftikhar 42Aneeqa 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. Deuten2. Verstehen3. 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.

b) Value-rational action:It occurs when individuals use effective means to achieve goals that are set by their values.

c) Affective action:Emotional and impulsive action that is an end in itself.

d) 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. Economic3. 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 StratificationSocial stratification assumes different forms in different societies on different criteria. These forms are slavery, Estate Class Caste

Three Sources of PowerClass 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.

ConclusionWeber'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.