Max Weber (Essay Sample)

Max Weber (1864 – 1920) is one of the leading German intellectuals of the 20th century, having written influential treatises on Sociology, Capitalism and Religion, and Bureaucracies as they represented the rational rule of society. When looking for the philosophical influences that influenced Weber’s theories, it is difficult to find as Weber critiqued in many ways Socialism in his writings but maintained an academic distance from other schools of thought. While Weber may be most influenced by the German philosophers Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche as they dominated German philosophy in his day, he is not writing to them directly or with frequent reference in his work, and his teachings stand independent. What is amazing about Max Weber is the influence that he had on academic Sociology in the historical context, for much of what we know of that discipline is generated from his methods and writings on the topic at the turn of the 20th century. Weber’s ideas on bureaucracy also lead to the formation of extensive government service enterprise being formed and operated on his philosophy’s foundation. In retrospect, Weber seems to have more similarities within his discipline with researchers such as Émile Durkheim and Frederick Winslow Taylor, writing on issues such as the scientific efficiency in bureaucracies, than with traditional schools of continental philosophy contemporaneous with him.
Bureaucracy, as it is known in the practice of modernity, was largely created on the philosophical basis outlined by Max Weber in his works. As Weber’s corpus of writing is large and frequently focused on other topics, his writing on Bureaucracy is largely found in three of his main published works.
Economies of Antiquity - 1908
The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation - 1920
Economy and Society (Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft) - 1922
In his research, Weber analyzed the economic relationships of ancient societies and compared them to modernity. In looking at how societies were organized politically, Weber identifies three main types of political societies as fundamental in The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation. As the Economist writes:
“Weber described three types of leadership: the charismatic, the hereditary and the bureaucratic. Each of these, he claimed, can generate obedience, but each is suitable for a different stage in an organisation’s development. The charismatic leader suits an organisation in its early days, when it relies on the vision of a single person to push it towards its goal. The hereditary leader, who comes with authority that has been vested elsewhere (either because his father was chairman before him, or because of success in another organisation), is suitable for an organisation whose rules and precedents are well established. In the third bureaucratic stage, everything runs with machine-like efficiency, and authority and control are exercised 'on the basis of knowledge'. The military is one example of an organisation in this stage.” (Economist, 2009)
In this manner, Bureaucracy as posited by Weber became an ideal type of society, one that was managed and ordered on the principles of rationalism. In the societies characterized by a charismatic leader, the social structure is more akin to authoritarianism or totalitarianism. The rule by decree follows ego, and in such it may be also filled with bias and self-interest, leading Weber to conclude that this was not the best form for an ideal society based on utilitarian principles, or the good of the many outweighing the benefit of the few. In fact, in charismatic leadership societies, the interests of the few were more apt to dominate the needs of the many. On this basis, Weber warned of the charismatic and its influence in politics presciently, for Hitler was to begin his rise to power from the Ashes of the Weimar Republic Weber helped to form within only a few years of Weber’s death.
In the Charismatic leader and the type of society organized under its rule, Weber believed one would be more likely to see bias and illegitimate authority passed from generation to generation through the hereditary transference of wealth and power. Where land or property ownership was concentrated of one class, authority might wield that power in an arbitrary or authoritarian manner in order to maximize the benefit of a minority group in society. Thus the charismatic and the hereditary both represented a threat to the establishment and growth of progressive democratic principles in a society. Where Weber studied Marx in order to critique the theories of communism and socialism with a progressive view of democracy in capitalism, he still required a means of authority and administration in society that would reflect his ideal. He saw in bureaucracy the ideal social from of rational administration that he was searching for in rational governance.
Therefore, it is important to view Weber as both an exemplar of rationalism and idealism in his philosophy and writings. Weber appears as a rationalist because he favors a subjective inquiry into the issues of history and culture that is approached through the facilities of the mind and reason. While Weber does employ statistical methodology and empiricism, he is much more expressing the proclivity for a philosophy of the State based on reason, openness, and co-operation than that ruled by authoritative dictate or decree. The development of progress required both the ideal and rationality, in the way that reason creates the ideal, and thus Weber can also be associated with a unique type of pre-WWII German progressivism that was to be highly influential all over the world in developing the sociological approach.
“Bureaucracy is the division of labour applied to administration 'Bureau', is a French word meaning desk, or by extension, an office; thus, 'Bureaucracy' is rule through a desk or office, that is, a form of organization built on the preparation and dispatch of written documents. In contrast to the commonly held view of bureaucracies, they do not 'rule' in their own right but are the means by which a monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or other form of authority, rules.” (MIS, 2010)
In this instance it is clear, in that imagining an ideal society ruled by reason, the desk or office would become a symbol of modernity and the new administration. This was fundamentally democratic, and Weber tried to implement these principles in founding a democracy, in the example if the Weimar Republic. This is important in that Weber explicitly rejected authoritarianism and totalitarianism in a time when it was dangerously perilous to German civil society. In doing so, he laid down the principles for a continental bureaucracy that is still existent and evolving around the world to this day.
“MODERN officialdom functions in the following specific manner:
I. There is the principle of fixed and official jurisdictional areas, which are generally ordered by rules, that is, by laws or administrative regulations.
1. The regular activities required for the purposes of the bureaucratically governed structure are distributed in a fixed way as official duties.
2. The authority to give the commands required for the discharge of these duties is distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules concerning the coercive means, physical, sacerdotal, or otherwise, which may be placed at the disposal of officials.
3. Methodical provision is made for the regular and continuous fulfilment of these duties and for the execution of the corresponding rights; only persons who have the generally regulated qualifications to serve are employed.
In public and lawful government these three elements constitute 'bureaucratic authority.' In private economic domination, they constitute bureaucratic 'management.' Bureaucracy, thus understood, is fully developed in political and ecclesiastical communities only in the modern state, and, in the private economy, only in the most advanced institutions of capitalism.” (Weber, Wirtschaft, pp. 650-78)
From Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, part III, chap. 6 - VIII. Bureaucracy
In this quote from Economy and Society (Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft) (1922), Weber gives his most complete outline of the characteristics of bureaucracy. In the first instance, bureaucracy is “an official duty” and with this comes the idea of service to the ideals of progress and reason, as well as to democracy. In that this is a civil position, it is the essence of authority, but the administration from desk is also a career and a profession, with its own logic of governance that can be implemented to create social change. If one considers the degree to which progressive idealism can model a future society, in mind, theory, or text, it becomes clear that their must also be a means and a method to implement the vision. Thus Weber creates the ideal of bureaucracy as a critique of socialism but also as a means through which progressive democracy and scientific progress could implement a transformative vision to the wider society at large.
That this task and goal of bureaucracy involved the organization of the resources of the State that were also considered the heritage or resources of the community of individuals, the use of progressive means and models to organize society was required by Weber. The bureaucracy functioned in this way but was removed from the passions of the day by being anchored in a career professionalism and a higher logic of the ideals on behalf of the bureaucrat. Thus, this model involves a level of trust of society to the bureaucrat that corruption not develop within the system of bureaucracy and give birth to the same forms of bias and inequality that are shown in the charismatic and hereditary forms of society. Yet Weber does not develop sufficient anti-corru...