Max Weber as a Social Theorist (Essay Sample)

One of the forefathers of sociology was Max Weber (1864-1920). Weber believed that a comprehensive knowledge of society and social transformation required combining structural and action perspectives. Weber was Max and Helene Weber's oldest child. His father was a budding political figure who quickly allied with the more obedient, pro-Bismarckian "National-Liberals" and relocated the household from Erfurt to Berlin. He served in the Prussian House of Deputies the Reichstag (Mitzman, 2021). In the Weber residence, the senior Weber positioned himself as a pillar of the Berlin political stage, entertaining renowned statesmen and professors.
On the other hand, Weber's mother was nurtured in Calvinism orthodoxy. Her Calvinist morals never wavered, even as she ultimately embraced a much more lenient doctrine (Mitzman, 2021). Consequently, her spouse's social interactions drove a wedge between them, notably when he dismissed her long-term grieving after losing two of their kids.
He took on a classic authoritative demeanor in his household and required total submission from his spouse and kids. This harsh home situation, which was defined by disputes involving Weber's caregivers, is said to have attributed to the internal turmoil that plagued Weber throughout his adult years. Even so, Weber's undoubted genius, along with his exceptional aptitude for concentrated intellectual activity, resulted in his rapid career advancement. Further, with respect to sociology and social action, Weber became a tenured professor of politics and economics at Freiburg one year since his admission in Berlin (Mitzman, 2021). Weber maintained that in order to determine the reason for the conduct, you must first comprehend the concept that the subject has attributed to it. He made a distinction between three sorts of comprehension.
To begin, he claimed that comprehending human activity and social transformation need 'Verstehen,' or empathic awareness, a notion he emphasized in his landmark essay 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism' (Thompson, 2017). Second, he argued that we could establish broad generalizations about the primary sorts of the human drive. Finally, he maintained that structure influenced human behavior since particular civilizations or groupings promoted specific kinds of motivations; however, within these wide-ranging categories, there is a lot of change conceivable. According to him, sociology is a discipline concerned with interpreting social behavior and, as a result, the causative interpretation of its direction and repercussions.
Weber did not just argue that humans structured society; he also believed that cultures encouraged particular sorts of motivation for behavior, such as Calvinism, which drove individuals to save money and ultimately led to a capitalist system. Weber thought there were four desirable societal practices (Thompson, 2017). Ideal categories are used to correlate real-world examples to hypothetical forms in order to determine where they belong. According to him, there is no dynamic activity solely one of the four classifications.
Max Weber was primarily keen on the latter of such, believing that civilized democracies incentivized 'Instrumental-Action,' or doing things in perhaps the most effective manner, like driving to work, instead of considering if driving to work was indeed the prudent action to take, which might be worth intervention. Weber argued that the new cultures were consumed with efficiency – standardizing and completing tasks – to the point where issues of morality, compassion, and heritage were tossed aside, causing more people to be unhappy and causing massive societal issues. Weber was devastated about it to the point of having a mental collapse near the end of his life.
Comparison of the Three Main Sociological Perspectives -Structural Functionalist, Social Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionist
Sociological perspectives cover a variety of ways sociologists take when examining human civilization and processes. Structural Functionalist, Social Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionist are the three major sociological orientations. These methodologies, generally, establish conceptual approaches for resolving difficulties in human civilization and institutions. Experimental or practical sociology follows the principle of these theoretical concepts. The relevance of sociology to its participants is due to understanding theories in actual conditions.
The functionalist sociological perspective views society as a complicated system of coherent pieces or structures to execute various social purposes. The structural/functionalist perspective is a micro-sociology method that includes society's universal goals, standards, views, and mindsets (Mooney et al., 2007). This viewpoint opposes innovation because its advocates see it as a disrupting and gradual process. The functionalist viewpoint sees societal hierarchies as a result of the leadership positions that civilization bestows on its citizens. Different employment prospects in a community attract various perks such as authority and financial compensation. As a result, these incentives drive people to put extra effort into obtaining such posts.
Human civilization is a tiered entity with numerous individuals in actual life. There are three classes of people: the wealthy, the middle-income, and the underprivileged. The functionalist approach is widely used to explain the formation of these groupings. There seem to be positions available in society, and people compete to occupy them. As a result, this concept proposes that this is why individuals receive an education and obtain skills and competency from a variety of organizations. According to adherents of this idea, the essence of different social groups is warranted by differences in human characteristics and ability (Mooney et al., 2007). Each community member would devote himself or herself to the profession in which they excel. Consequently, to accomplish the system's ultimate functionality, all its constituents must work together in harmony. This is the definition of a society.