Weber in the Cuzzort

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Weber in the Cuzzort King text three main
topics

• religion and economic systems, especially
  capitalism
• the nature of bureaucratic organization
• types of powerthey focus on charismatic power
• This misses a main point 

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Weber Lectures, Part One the nature of
knowledge the ideal type

• There is no Truth but many truths
• Quite different from Durkheim/Comte and also Marx
• The functionalists view of knowledge is referred
  to as positivism
• Marx argued that no one (including the social
  scientist) is free from the biasing influence of
  his or her class and societyexcept for himself,
  of course
• Weber more complicated than Marxissues of
  subjectivity that grew from the methodenstreit.
• No one sees the whole of the Truth. We cant.

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The ideal type

• People conceive of things in terms of types
• Social scientists do the same
• We have to be more structured about what we do
• What is it?
• A common mental construct in the social sciences,
  derived from observable reality although not
  conforming to it in detail because of deliberate
  simplification and exaggeration. It is not ideal
  in the sense that it is excellent, nor is it an
  average it is, rather, a constructed ideal used
  to approximate reality by selecting and
  accentuating certain elements.

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Ideal type -- continued

• Remember when CK said you never actually see a
  family?
• Weber believes you have to investigate each thing
  in detail, rather than relying on a large-scale
  theory of everything like Marx and Durkheim
  have.
• Use of the ideal type idea would lead Weber to
  disagree with Durkheim and Marx
• Perhaps the direction of history in Durkheim
  isnt the only way to conceive of it, or the
  best?
• Perhaps considering all of society to be conflict
  between classes, as Marx does, isnt the only
  way to conceive of it?
• It all depends on your interests and the
  usefulness of your types.
• Protestantism of a certain type, he is pretty
  sure can be shown to have had a certain
  relationship to the beginnings of modern
  capitalism

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Weber Lectures, Part Two Calvinism, Capitalism,
Thought

• Lay out the argument Lutheranism?
  Calvinism?Modern Capitalism
• Other-worldly calling
• Lutheran this-worldly calling
• Calvin and predestination
• waste of time as a deadly sin
• hard work is blessed
• change of opinion on wealth -- it is bad only if
  it tempts you to idleness and merriment

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Then Weber extends his argument

• Capitalism comes with
• Science/technology
• Bureaucracy the organizational world
• It also brings the modern style of thinking (its
  the fate of our times)
• Rationalization (rational calculation an in
  principle solve all problems )
• Secularization (move away from religion)
• Disenchantment of the world (the end of mystery
  and magic contrast scientific world view with
  that of the Trobriand Islanders all serious
  illness and almost all death is caused by
  sorcery)
• Weber believes we gain and we lose. The following
  illustrations represent what is lost

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Weber Lectures, Part Three Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy the means to transform social action
  into rationally organized action
• This means it has the same relationship to people
  as science/technology have to material things
• What is it? An ideal type. Different people list
  from five to nine characteristics
• explicit rules and regulations hierarchy of
  authority
• norm of impersonal impartiality (you are a
  number)
• specialization by office
• reliance on technical expertise
• separation of administration from ownership

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Weber on action and authority

• 1. Webers ideal types of action
• Emotional-expressive
• Value-expressive
• Traditional
• Rational (or instrumental) this type takes over
  more and more
• 2. The same with leadership/authority the ideal
  types
• Charismatic
• Traditional
• Legal/rational
• 3. NOTE Weber considered the modern world to be
  fairly soulless, and he wondered if a
  charismatic leader or movement might change the
  direction. Unfortunately he was right (Hitler)