Aims of Education

Natalie Barton Notes on Max Weber Personal Biography [Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber] (b. April 21, 1864, Erfurt, Prussia [Germany] d. June 14, 1920, Munich, Ger.), German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the "Protestant Ethic," relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Through his insistence on the need for objectivity in scholarship and his analysis of human action in terms of motivation, Weber profoundly influenced sociological theory. (www.riseofthewest.net) A key proponent of methodological antipositivism [1], which presents sociology as a non-empiricist field which must study social action through interpretive means based upon understanding the meaning and purpose that individuals attach to their own actions, Weber is often cited, with mile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science. (Kim, Sung Ho, 2007, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) Max Weber's Sociological Ideology His political sociology focuses on the persistent role of domination in social life. Three themes run through Webers work: * The nature of domination (Herrschaft) * The character of rationality * The intertwined relation of religious ideas to economic activities. Weber also distinguished between three types of authority as follows: * Traditional, which is the way of the past in which the elders hold the rein * Charismatic, which is the personal voice of the individual * Legal-rational, where norms and laws are based of rule (Asiado, 2008, Suite101) Weber's Thoughts on Different Religions, and How They Contribute to Society In Germany...Weber noticed that there were statistical correlations between the emergence of capitalism and the prevalence of Protestantism, Calvinism [2] in particular. His interest in religion came from two sources: first relates to why capitalism developed in the West, rather than other cultures such as Asia, for example; second,

was the question of status in terms of positions of different social classes. (Asiado, 2008, Suite101) The Protestant morality that he had come to accept as inescapable destiny came under attack from the youth movement, from avantgarde literary circles such as the one centred on the poet Stefan George, from Neoromantics influenced by Nietzsche and Freud, and from Slavic cultural ideals, exemplified in Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. (www.riseofthewest.net) Recent Studies Which Support This Max Weber's theories about the Protestant work ethic were supported by the results of the study and that they apply more widely than thought, including in the choice of political institutions and in explaining income inequality [...] the research paper found that Weber's work better explains economic development than that of Karl Marx, the father of socialism, who saw culture reflecting the economic order, the research paper found. "Religion is not just, as Karl Marx would have us believe, 'People's Opium', but can, by its own force, significantly change people's preferences, both selfregarding and social ones," the ECB study said. Weber, in his seminal work 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism', published in 1904, said that Protestants are more likely to regard hard work as a way to salvation and that it encouraged accumulation of wealth. (Basten and Betz, 2011, European Central Bank) Influential Books Weber Wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: 1904: It is considered a founding text in economic sociology and sociology in general. Weber wrote that capitalism in northern Europe evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. In other words, the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism. This idea is also known as the "Protestant Ethic thesis." The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism: 1915: Weber focused on those aspects of Chinese society that were different from those of Western Europe and Puritanism, and posed a question why capitalism did not develop in China. From the chronological perspective, he concentrated on early period of Chinese history (Hundred Schools of Thought, Warring States Period), during which major Chinese schools of thoughts (Confucianism, Taoism) were

invented. In that period, he focused on the issues of Chinese urban development, Chinese patrimonialism and officialdom, and Chinese religion, as the areas in which Chinese development differed most distinctively from the European route. The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism: It was his third major work on the sociology of religion [...] this work he deals with the structure of Indian society, with the orthodox doctrines of Hinduism and the heterodox doctrines of Buddhism, with the changes wrought by popular religiosity and their influence on the secular ethic of Indian society. Ancient Palestine: Society and Religion/Ancient Judaism: 1917-1919: was his fourth and last major work on the sociology of religion [...] this work he attempts to explain the factors that were responsible for the early differences between Oriental and Occidental religiosity. It is especially visible when the asceticism developed by Western Christianity is contrasted to mystical contemplation developed in India. What is "Life Chances"? It is a political theory of the opportunities each individual has to improve his or her quality of life. [...] It is a probabilistic concept, describing how likely it is, given certain factors, that an individual's life will turn out a certain way. Life chances are positively correlated with one's social situation. Weberian life chances can be seen as an expansion on some of Karl Marx's ideas. Both Weber and Marx agreed that economic factors were important in determining one's future, but Weber's concepts of life chances are more complex; inspired by, but different from Marx's views on social stratification and social class. Where for Marx the class status were the most important factor, and he correlated life chances with material wealth, Weber introduced other factors, such as social mobility and social equality. Other factors include those related to one socioeconomic status, such as gender, race, and ethnicity.While some of those factors, like age, race or gender, are random, Weber stressed the link between life chances and the non-random elements of the three-component theory of stratification - how social class, social status and political affiliation impact each individual's life. In other words, individuals in certain groups have in common a specific causal component of their life chances: they are in similar situation, which tends to imply a similar outcome to their actions. Weber notes the importance of economic factors, how the power of those with property, compared to those without property, gives the former great advantages over the latter. Weber also noted that life chances are to certain extent subjective: what an individual thinks of one's life chances will affect their actions, therefore if one feels that one can become or is a respected and valued member of society, then it is likely to become a reality and results in one being more successful and respected than somebody without this conviction.

In terms of agency and structure, life chances represent the structure, the factors that one has no control over; whereas one's life conduct - values and beliefs, attitude to risk taking, social skills, or more genrally, free willed choices about one's behavior - represent the factors one has control over. According to Weber theories, together with life conduct, life chances are responsible for one's lifestyle. In social engineering, life chances may have to be balanced against other goals, such as eliminating poverty, ensuring personal freedom or ensuring equality at birth.

[1] Antipositivism relates to various historical debates in the philosophy and sociology of science. In modern practice, however, non-positivism may be equated with qualitative research methods, while positivist research is more quantitative. Positivists typically use research methods such as experiments and statistical surveys, while antipositivists use research methods which rely more on unstructured interviews or participant observation. Currently, positivist and non-positivist methods are often combined. (www.wikipedia.com) [2] Calvinism (also called Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life. The Reformed tradition was advanced by several theologians such as Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli, but this branch of Christianity bears the name of the French reformer John Calvin (Jean Cauvin in Old French) because of his prominent influence on it and because of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 16th century. (www.wikipedia.com)