TAKE HOME EXAM 2

Weber (III) Meaning, Power and Rationalization: Action, Types and Bringing in Power© Meyer Kestnbaum, University of Maryland -- Sociology 203

Overview

I. How can we synthesize what we’ve read of Weber? II. What are the keys to doing sociology for Weber? Types, social action

III. Rational action as a key type of social action IV. How does Weber explicitly introduce power into his analysis? V. How does Weber move from power/legitimacy to inequality? What are the

links, and how does he understand social inequality?

Terms and concepts

Iron Cage

Disenchantment

Elective affinity/no causal primacy

Historical specificity and comparison

Type concepts

Action and social action

Affective, traditional, instrumentally rational and value-rational action

Power, domination and legitimate dom/authority

Class, status and party

I. Synthesizing Weber I. Restating the main argument of The Protestant Ethic

A. As a way of organizing and conducting economic life, Modern Western capitalism is distinctive (think the 3-part definition we offered) and needs to be explained

B. The spirit of Modern Western capitalism -- the ever renewed pursuit of profit as an ethical duty (where people consciously adjust incomes to expenses, which requires saving and sacrifice and reinvestment rather than enjoying what wealth you’ve accumulated) -- drives economic life, but it IS NOT NATURAL, and explaining the emergence of that spirit is the key

C. The place to look for the source of this kind of behavior is religiously inspired belief; it is tremendously meaningful to those who believe and such belief is able to channel and direct action

D. The source of this kind of action lies in Calvinist Protestantism, because living your daily life according to your calling as an obligation to God demands precisely this kind of terrific self-disciplining of action, which, when applied in business, looks just like the spirit of capitalism

E. From this example of worldly asceticism rooted in Protestantism, this distinctive orientation to economic life expands outward, to create a system that envelops and dominates us all

I. Synthesizing Weber I. The final argument of The Protestant Ethic: regarding Consequences

A. What kind of world is the world shaped by capitalism? “the iron cage” (181) 1. What is the iron cage? Ec. life/concern for material gain dominate all, irresistibly 2. Impact on people?

a) We all controlled by this economic order, regardless whether we are in business, inescap’ly b) Establishes a standard by which life ↑ must be measured: whether contributes to gain, thus

in material and instrumental terms, so life reduced increasingly only to that B. How does Weber characterize the impact of capitalism on culture? Disenchantment (182)

1. What is the image, the alternative possibilities? (New prophets, old ideals, or emptiness) 2. May proud bigger/faster/more complex, but undermines meaning: Compelling us act specific way

regardless meaning & assess life in material/instrumental terms, ↑limits spheres where we may act in meaningful way, undercuts meaning finding, and even meaning making

C. → This is the rationalization capitalism produces: inescapable pursuit material, without meaning

II. From synthesizing Weber to Doing Sociol.

I. Based on the Protestant Ethic, we can see A. The core of PE is both an apparent paradox and an enormous irony

1. What are they? a) In terms of rational/rationality? From perspective of our present, behaviour of

Protestants was irrational, but gave rise to a world of brutal rationality b) In terms of meaning? Religious believers did what they did because it was meaningful to

them; now we all act in this way because we’re compelled, and it is meaningless 2. What does this tell us about Weber’s commitments and concerns?

B. Take a step back--at its most basic level, what does Weber want to understand? 1. What is the role of people? Sociology is always about people, and why patterns of regularities

emerge in their behaviour 2. What is his central focus regarding people? Why groups of people act the way they do

II. Doing sociology I. Sociology seeks to formulate type concepts and identify generalized

uniformities of empirical process A. Aims at causal explanation of historically and culturally significant phenomena B. To compensate for lack of fullness one gets in generalizing concepts, sociology can offer

greater precision of concepts and analyses that follow from these concepts C. The key: Weber’s notion of the ideal type

1. Abstract from reality in order to help us understand reality--shows to what degree and in what ways any concrete historical phenomenon can be subsumed under 1 or more concepts

2. Ideal (vs. real) in the sense that they are formulated by the sociologist to be as logically integrated and internally consistent as possible, which includes that the meaning for social actors is clear and consistent

3. Real HISTORICAL examples are not likely to conform to a single type; instead, mixtures

II. Doing sociology I. Social action and its types

A. Social action: When an actor’s behavior is meaningfully oriented to that of others- 1. Includes failure to act, acquiescence; what’s critical is that it’s oriented to

past/present/future conduct of others 2. A person’s action is both causally determined by others and oriented meaningfully to

their action (think of his examples of raising an umbrella and imitation) 3. Not sole object of sociology, but what gives sociology its claim to being a science

B. Distinguishing types of social action- 1. Are more coherent and internally consistent than will find in reality 2. Although actual human action will always involve some mixture of these

orientations, social action may be broken down into 4 distinct types that can then be used to characterize the basic thrust of any particular social action

3. Not simple descriptions but 4 poles toward which action tends

III. Rational action

I. The four types of social action A. Affectual--determined by actor’s affects or feeling states B. Traditional--determined by ingrained habituation or habit, what is traditional C. Instrumentally rational (zweckrationalitat) -- determined by expectations of objects or

persons; these expectations are conditions or means for attainment of an actor’s own rationally pursued and calculated ends

D. Value-rational (wertrationalitat) -- determined by belief in the value -- for its own sake -- of some ethical (or religious) form of behavior, independent of its prospects for success

III. Rational action

I. Looking further at the distinctions among types of social action A. Affectual and traditional -- at borderline of meaningfully oriented B. Traditional can shade into value-rational, insofar as follow tradition for tradition’s sake C. Much of what’s central for us lies in distinction between 2 varieties of rational action

1. Can restate and refine ‘rational action’ in THIS context= ”conscious, continuous and systematic effort to adjust one’s action to explicit ends”

2. So focus on person orienting to clear ends, and on the relationship between means and ends D. Action is instrumentally rational when ends, means and any secondary results are all rationally

taken into account and weighed--consideration of alternatives and how each may → ends (as well as other consequences) is the key

E. Action is value rational when action is carried out for its own sake, where the action is an end in itself and involves a demand the actor sees as binding on her or himself

III. Rational action

Instrumentally Rational Action

Ends defined in terms … of practical results

Action oriented … toward multiple ends which have to be weighed against one another

Does not require or prohibit any specific means, but they are weighed against one another

Characteristic of action pursuing … material interests

Who… capitalist, but even more, the engineer

Value Rational Action

...of values inherent in performing action itself (such as adhering to a code of conduct)

...toward a single, absolute end

Specific means required or prohibited AND the means/ends distinction can collapse, since using the correct means becomes the end in itself

...ideal interests

…religious believer, who follows a code (honor, other)

IV. Power

I. Develops second main concern in his work -- power A. Power permeates almost all social relationships, from intimate to large-scale B. Takes an enormous range of forms C. Power = the ability to get one’s way, even against resistance

1. From subtle (e.g., exerting influence) to direct (using coercive force) D. Domination or rule = the organized, systematic and regular exercise of power

1. Certain people issue commands, others obey 2. One of the most crucial and pervasive phenomena in social life; takes a huge range of

forms/situations, from family to army to factory or workplace to university 3. Stable systems of domination usually involve three types of actors:

a) The ruler; the ruled or subject population; and the staff 4. Compare to Marx’s way of understanding domination--what stands out?

IV. Power I. Obeying commands and the notion of legitimacy (authority)

A. Why do people obey commands when dominated? Fear, self-interest (benefit, cost), habit B. In addition to these motives, people obey commands in part because people feel that they ought to

obey, and that the person giving orders has the right to do so 1. To the extent that this happens, the system of domination has acquired legitimacy: it has

become one of legitimate domination or authority 2. Legitimacy from whose perspective? Domination is legitimate in whose eyes? 3. Ex. of the owner of property (or workplace boss) ability to direct work of paid labor, hire/fire

C. → 3 key takeaways 1. The extent to which a system of domination achieves legitimacy can have important effects

on how power is exercised -- security of rule, limitations on rule 2. Efforts to convert domination into authority are a central, critical drama of social life 3. Questions of legitimate authority bring together concerns with power AND meaning--HOW?

IV. Power I. Types of legitimate domination

A. W’s Central claim: Depending on type of legitimacy claimed by authority, domination works differently, is organized differently, and has different effects on the ruler and her staff, as well as those ruled

B. Claims of legitimacy based on 1. Rational grounds--rooted in legality of enacted laws/rules and right of those elevated to

authority under these rules to issue commands (legal-rational authority) 2. Traditional grounds--established belief in sanctity of tradition (traditional authority) 3. Charismatic grounds--devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of

an individual (charismatic authority) C. Under each type of legitimacy, obedience is owed...

1. Legal-rational authority--to the legally established impersonal order (e.g., “law, not men”) 2. Traditional--to the person of the chief occupying trad position and who is bound by tradition 3. Charismatic--to char. leader by virtue of personal trust in their revelation, heroism or other quals

V. Inequality

I. More to power than rule (dom): Inequalities, distinct bases of power distributed within a political community A. Who wields such power, and what kinds? B. Distinguishes 3 distinct orders operating within an overarching politico-legal order, allows W to

characterize people with respect to their location in each order, and to specify their intersections and interdependencies

C. Class--defined in terms of market position (vs. prod), → people have varying life chances D. Status--social honor or prestige, defined in terms of style of life particular to a status position E. Party--with respect to the operation of politics and influence on explicitly political processes F. Importance to sociologists

1. Bases of collective action--class action based on market position; status rank formation produces status group action; organized party seeking to influence formal exercise of power

2. Individual level -- distinct domains that form basis of different interests pursued instrumentally 3. Intersects with systems of domination/authority, especially political

a) One set: shapes access/place of people moving into system of dom., their interests beyond position, or how that sys wields power it has

Weber 1-minute paper #2

1. Please answer the following questions a. Can you identify examples of instrumentally rational as opposed to value rational action in

your own life? i. Where do you feel a tradeoff, if you do, between the two? ii. Does your sense of the instrumentally rational action in your life change if you also

feel that external social forces sometimes demand or require you act that way? How so?

b. Where do you see legitimate domination or authority at work in your daily life? i. What do you think is the significance that you see the domination as legitimate? ii. What if you saw it was not legitimate?