Max Weber
Information used from https://revisesociology.com/2017/01/26/max-webers-social-action-theory/
- Created by: Joanaar
- Created on: 24-11-20 17:16
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- Max Weber
- 1864-1920
- saw both structural and action approaches necessary
- to develop full understanding of society and social change
- contribution to sociology
- Argued that 'verstehen' is crucial to understanding human action and social change
- 'The protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'
- Make generalisation about the basic types of motivation for human action
- structure shape human action
- certain societies or groups encourage certain general types of motivation
- Argued that 'verstehen' is crucial to understanding human action and social change
- types of verstehen
- Aktuelles
- Direct observational understanding
- observing
- Direct observational understanding
- Eklarendes
- Empathetic understanding
- Why are they doing it? Questioning behaviour/ actions
- to achieve this you had to get into the shoes of people doing the activity
- Why are they doing it? Questioning behaviour/ actions
- Empathetic understanding
- Aktuelles
- Social action
- instrumental - rational
- Actions carried out to achieve a certain goal, do something because it leads to a result
- Weber said we are encouraged to do things in the most efficient way
- e.g. driving to work (is it the right thing to do or is it efficient?)
- value rational
- actions determined by a conscious belief in the inherent value of a type of behaviour
- Affective
- Actions determine ones specific affections and emotional state, you do not think about the consequences
- Traditional
- actions controlled by traditional, 'the way it has always been done'
- instrumental - rational
- POSITIVES
- recognises that we need to understand individual meaning to understand how societies change
- Individual motives can lead to huge structural level changes such as the emergence of capitalism
- NEGATIVES
- There may be more types than just four types of motivation
- There has been forms of capitalism existing before Protestantism
- theory of emergence of capitalism has been criticised due to this
- Too much focus on society shaping the individual
- symbolic interactionism argues that individuals have more freedom to shape their identities.
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