Weber Max/en

WEBER MAX (1864–1920) – a prominent German sociologist, philosopher, lawyer and economist. The creator of many concepts that have had an overwhelming influence on the contemporary theory and social research. His interests focused on social theory, methodology of social sciences, economic sociology, religion, politics and law, organisational theory, as well as historical sociology. In his research on society, Weber analysed the processes that underlie the rise of modern capitalism and modern societies. He maintained that there was a strong relationship between the development of capitalism and the Protestant values. An important contribution of Weber to the theory of politics was the introduction of a typology of political reign and its division into traditional, legal and charismatic reign. He pointed out that with the development of bureaucracy, the modern state is increasingly based on rational, legalistic power. The Weberian model of bureaucracy is an important contribution to the theory of organisation and it is reasonable to perceive it as the cornerstone of modern administration (→ model of bureaucracy). The features of this modern bureaucracy were supposed to be impersonality, rationality, specialization, achievement-oriented civil service, free from arbitrariness and discretion characterizing earlier ways of setting up a clerical apparatus. Its distinguishing features were also: monocratic official hierarchy, basing on impersonal regulations, documenting activities, separation of officials from property, stability of employment, qualifications, apoliticality and centralised control. Weber, though he considered the bureaucracy to be technically dominant, was concerned about its potentially destructive influence on individuals. His fears about the consequences of the bureaucratization of the social world reflect the metaphor of the iron cage. The cage is a metaphorical instrument of the dominant power, in which the bureaucracy seems to be a system of legitimizing power over its members, neutralizing their autonomy and the manner of uniformizing opinions and attitudes (→ politics and administration according to Weber) [ S. Mazur ].

Literature: M. Weber, Gospodarka i społeczeństwo, Warszawa 2002 ■ M. Weber, Polityka jako zawód i powołanie, [w:] M. Weber, Racjonalność, władza, odczarowanie, Poznań 2011 ■ M. Weber, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, red. i wstęp, H.H. Gerth, C.W. Mills, B.S. Turner, London 1991.