Max Weber

Known for

Verstehen (interpretive understanding), bureaucracy, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Thought

Weber argued that to truly understand social action, we must grasp the subjective meaning individuals themselves attach to their own behaviour (verstehen, or interpretive understanding) rather than just observing it from the outside — an approach that fed directly into the later symbolic interactionist focus on meaning built through everyday social interaction. He also analysed how modern society becomes increasingly rationalized and bureaucratic (the "iron cage"), and linked the rise of capitalism in the West partly to the disciplined work ethic he traced to Protestantism.

Biography

German sociologist, economist and political theorist, one of the founders of modern sociology, who insisted the social sciences require a different method from the natural sciences.

CSS Philosophy paper topics

Major works

• The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
• Economy and Society