Max Weber
Early Life
Max Weber was born on April 21, 1864, in Erfurt, Thuringia, in what is now Germany. His father, Max Weber Sr., was a wealthy and prominent civil servant and member of the National Liberal Party, while his mother, Helene Fallenstein, was a devout Calvinist with strong moral absolutist ideas. Weber's parents represented two polar opposites, with his father's values centered around worldly success and his mother's around religious devotion. This dichotomy would come to influence Weber's later works.
Education
Weber was a brilliant student and enrolled at the University of Heidelberg in 1882. He studied law, history, philosophy, and economics, reflecting the breadth of interests that would characterize his later work. His studies were interrupted by a year of military service, after which he transferred to the University of Berlin and later completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Heidelberg in 1889.
Early Career
Weber began his career as a legal scholar, becoming a professor of economics at the University of Freiburg in 1894 and later at the University of Heidelberg in 1896. During this time, he also served as a consultant to the German government on social policy.
Personal Life and Mental Health
Weber married Marianne Schnitger in 1893, a distant cousin and a feminist who later became a significant interpreter of Weber's work. In 1897, following the death of his father, Weber suffered a mental breakdown. He was plagued by insomnia and depression, and was unable to teach or publish for several years.
Later Career and Major Works
Weber resumed his scholarly work around 1904. His most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, was published in 1905. In this work, Weber proposed that the Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism are closely associated, with the former playing a significant role in the development of the latter.
Weber's other notable works include Economy and Society, a massive treatise on sociology and economics, and The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, where he introduced the concept of bureaucracy.
Sociology and Social Action
Weber's contribution to sociology is immense. He is best known for his theory of 'social action' and his concept of the 'ideal type'. According to Weber, social action is any action that takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals. He argued that understanding social action is key to understanding social phenomena.
Weber's concept of the 'ideal type' is a theoretical construct that serves as a tool for comparative sociology. It is not meant to correspond to reality, but to provide a standard of comparison for empirical situations.
Politics and Influence
Weber was politically active and had a significant influence on German politics during his lifetime. He was a strong supporter of liberal democracy and vehemently opposed both socialism and political absolutism.
Weber's influence extends beyond sociology and economics. His ideas have had a profound impact on a wide range of disciplines, including political science, religion, law, and cultural studies.
Death and Legacy
Weber died of pneumonia on June 14, 1920, at the age of 56. His work continues to be influential in the academic world, and he is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology.