Weber's "Ideal Types" - Definition, Meaning, Purpose and Use

8/15/2016 Weber’s “Ideal Types”: Definition, Meaning, Purpose and Use
Weber’s “Ideal Types”:

Definition, Meaning,
Purpose and Use
by S. Priyadarshini
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The ‘ideal type’ is one of Weber’s best known

contributions to contemporary sociology. It occupies a
very important place in his methodology. Weber
believed, it was the responsibility of sociologists to
develop conceptual tools. The most important of such
conceptual tool is the ideal type.
Definition and Meaning:
According to New Websters Dictionary ‘Ideal’ is a

“conception or a standard of something in its highest
perfection.” It refers to mental image or conception
rather than a material object. It is a model. The term
type means a kind, class or group as distinguished by a
particular character. So generally, we may conceptualize
ideal type as a kind, category, class or group of objects
things or persons with particular character that seems to
be the best example of it.
Weber used Ideal type in a specific sense. To him Ideal

type is a mental construct, like a model, for the scrutiny
and systematic characterization of a concrete situation.
Indeed he used Ideal type as a methodological tool to
understand and analyze social reality.
Methodology is a conceptual and logical research
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procedure by which knowledge is developed.

Historically much of the methodological concern in the
social sciences has been directed towards establishing
their scientific credentials.
Max Weber was particularly concerned with the

problem of objectivity in social sciences. Hence he used
Ideal type as a methodological tool that looks at reality
objectively. It scrutinizes, classifies, systematizes and
defines social reality without subjective bias. The Ideal
types are nothing to do with values. Its function as a
research tool is for classification and comparison.
To quote Max Weber:
“The Ideal typical concept will develop our skill in

imputation in research. It is not a description of reality
but it aims to give unambiguous means of expression to
such a description.” In other words, Ideal types are
concepts formulated on the basis of facts collected
carefully and analytically for empirical research. In this
sense, Ideal types are constructs or concepts which are
used as methodological devices or tools in our
understanding and analysis of any social problem.
Just as an ideal model is constructed by the natural

scientists as an instrument and means for knowing
nature, so the social scientist creates Ideal type as a tool
for systematizing and comprehending individual facts,
against which the investigator can measure reality. It is
because of its separation from empirical reality and
difference from it.
Weber tells, the Ideal type could serve as a measuring

rod of reality. The object of constructing “Ideals types” is
not to compare an empirical situation with the ideal
type, but to compare several empirical situations with

one another; through the medium of Ideal type and
derive testable hypothesis which account for the various
deviations. In other words Ideal types help to guide and
structure comparative research.
According to Weber, the Science of sociology could be

developed on the basis of the concept, the Ideal type.
Weber says, sociology is concerned with social action
and social behaviour. Every social action has an ideal.
The ‘Ideal type’ of social action is in our mind. For
example, we say that a particular man is ‘idealist’.
The term idealist is an idea and how can we call a man

idealist? How can we apply an idea to a concrete man? It
is only because we have conception about the meaning
of the term idealist and this conception is an idea of the
Ideal type. It is because of these theoretical and rational
concepts that we are able to judge a man as idealist. This
proves that everyman has in him certain ideas about
perfect social action or behaviour and this ideal type is
subjective that is in the mind of man.
Julien Freund writes, “by the ideal type the sociologist is

able to measure the gap between the ideal typical
objectively possible action and the empirical action an
ascertain the part played by irrationality and chance or
by the intrusion of accidental, emotional and other
elements.”
According to Weber:
“An ideal type is formed by the one-side accentuation of

one or more points of view and by the synthesis of a
great many diffuse, discrete, more or less present and
occasionally absent, concrete individual phenomena,
which are arranged according to those one-sidedly

emphasized viewpoints into a unified analytical
construct …. In its conceptual purity, this mental
construct…. cannot be found empirically anywhere in
reality.”
In-spite of the above definition, Weber was not totally

consistent in the way he used the Ideal type. At its most
basic level, an Ideal type is a concept constructed by a
social scientist on the basis of his interests and
theoretical orientation, to capture the essential features
of some social phenomenon. The Ideal type, one of the
most important concepts of Weber represents the logical
conclusion of several tendencies of Weberian thought.
(1) It is related to the notion of comprehension. In that

every Ideal type is an organization of intelligible
relations within a historical entity or sequence of events.
(2) Moreover, the Ideal type is related to a characteristic

of both our society and our science, namely the process
of rationalization. The construction of Ideal type,
Raymond Aron writes, “is an expression of the attempt;
characteristic of all scientific disciplines to render
subject matter intelligible by revealing or constructing
its internal rationality.
(3) Ideal type is also related to the analytic and partial

conception of causality. It helps us to understand
historical elements or entities, but it is so to speak a
partial comprehension of a total whole.
Construction of Ideal types:
Ideal types are formulated by the abstraction and

combination of an indefinite number of elements which
though found in reality, are rarely or never discovered

in specific form. Therefore Weber does not consider that
he is establishing a new conceptual method. He
emphasizes that he is making explicit what is already
done in practice. For the construction of Ideal types, the
sociologist selects a certain number of traits from the
whole which is otherwise and obscures, to constitute an
intelligible entity.
For example:
If we wish to study the state of .democracy in India, then

our first task will be to define the concept of democracy
with the help of its essential and typical characteristics.
Here we can mention some of the essential
characteristics of democracy. That is existence of multi-
party system, universal Adult Franchise, formation of
Govt. by people’s representatives, people’s participation
in the decision making, and equality before law as well.
This formulation of a pure type or an Ideal type concept

of democracy will guide us and work as a tool in our
analysis. Any deviation from or conformity to it will
unfold the reality. Ideal types therefore do not represent
the common or the average characteristics but focus on
the typical and the essential characteristics.
For instance in his book the Protestant Ethics and the

Spirit of Capitalism, Weber analyses the characteristics
of the “Calvinist Ethic.” Ideal types are constructed from
facts existing in reality. They do not represent or
describe the total reality; they are of pure types in a
logical sense. According to Weber in its conceptual
purity, this ideal mental construct cannot be found
empirically anywhere in reality. This then is the way in
which Ideal types are constructed.
According to Max Weber, “An ideal type is an analytical

construct that serves the investigator as a measuring rod
to ascertain similarities as well as deviations in concrete
cases.” Weber urged that the basic purpose of the Ideal
type is “to analyze historically unique configurations or
the individual components in terms of genetic concepts.”
They are used as conception instruments for
comparison with and the measurement of reality. They
are indispensable for this purpose.
Ideal types are to be constructed and used with care,

says Weber. Max Weber cautions that the Ideal type is to
be constructed and used with great care.
He stated:
1. The Ideal types are not hypotheses.
2. Ideal types do not state or imply an ethical ideal.
3. They do not state an average type.
4. They do not exhaust reality, i.e., they do not

correspond exactly to any empirical instances.
Purpose and use of Ideal types:
Ideal types are not formed out of a nexus of purely

conceptual thought, but are created, modified and
sharpened through the empirical analysis of concrete
problems. This in turn, increases the precision of that
analysis. Ideal type, a key term in Weber’s mythological
essays has been used by him as a device in
understanding historical configurations or specific
historical problems.
For this he constructed Ideal types that are to
understand how events had actually taken place and to

show that if some antecedents or other events had not
occurred or had occurred differently, the event we are
trying to explain would have been different as well. For
example, because of the implementation of the land
reform laws and penetration of other modernizing
forces like education, modern occupation etc. the joint
family system has broken down in rural India. This
means that there is a causal relation between the event
(Land reform, education etc.) and the situation (Joint
family). In this way Ideal type concept also helps in the
causal explanation of a phenomenon.
Weber does not believe that one element of society is

determined by another. He conceives the causal
relations both in history and sociology as partial and
probable relations. It means that a given fragment of
reality makes probable or improable, favourable or un-
favourable to another fragment of reality.
For instance:
Certain Marxists would say that private ownership of

the means of production makes inevitable the political
power of the minority possessing these means. Weber
would say that an economic regime of total planning
makes a certain type of political organisation more
probable.
In Weber’s work such analysis of causal relationships

was related to his interest in worldwide comparisons or
in analysis of events and establishment of general
proposition. That is he used Ideal types to build up a
conception of a particular historical case, and used the
same Ideal type conceptions for a comparative analysis.
This interdependence of history and sociology appears
most clearly in Weber’s conception of the Ideal type.

Besides examining any particular historical case Weber
also used Ideal types to analyze the abstract elements of
social reality and to explain particular kinds of social
behaviour.
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8/15/2016 Weber’s “Ideal Types”: Definition, Meaning, Purpose and Use

Weber’s “Ideal Types”:

The ‘ideal type’ is one of Weber’s best known

Definition and Meaning:

According to New Websters Dictionary ‘Ideal’ is a

Weber used Ideal type in a specific sense. To him Ideal

Methodology is a conceptual and logical research

procedure by which knowledge is developed.

Max Weber was particularly concerned with the

To quote Max Weber:

“The Ideal typical concept will develop our skill in

Just as an ideal model is constructed by the natural

Weber tells, the Ideal type could serve as a measuring

type, but to compare several empirical situations with

According to Weber, the Science of sociology could be

The term idealist is an idea and how can we call a man

Julien Freund writes, “by the ideal type the sociologist is

“An ideal type is formed by the one-side accentuation of

which are arranged according to those one-sidedly

In-spite of the above definition, Weber was not totally

(1) It is related to the notion of comprehension. In that

(2) Moreover, the Ideal type is related to a characteristic

(3) Ideal type is also related to the analytic and partial

Construction of Ideal types:

Ideal types are formulated by the abstraction and

though found in reality, are rarely or never discovered

If we wish to study the state of .democracy in India, then

This formulation of a pure type or an Ideal type concept

For instance in his book the Protestant Ethics and the

According to Max Weber, “An ideal type is an analytical

Ideal types are to be constructed and used with care,

1. The Ideal types are not hypotheses.

2. Ideal types do not state or imply an ethical ideal.

3. They do not state an average type.

4. They do not exhaust reality, i.e., they do not

Purpose and use of Ideal types:

Ideal types are not formed out of a nexus of purely

For this he constructed Ideal types that are to

understand how events had actually taken place and to

Weber does not believe that one element of society is

Certain Marxists would say that private ownership of

In Weber’s work such analysis of causal relationships

most clearly in Weber’s conception of the Ideal type.

Competition: Definition, Characteristics, Types and

Placentation in Mammals: Definition, Development

Distinction of Sociology between Social Statics and

Look more professional with

Before publishing your

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