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Max Weber's Economy and Society?
I'm trying to understand a certain passage in his work, but I have no idea what he's trying to say:
"On the other hand processes or conditions, whether they are animate or
inanimate, human or non-human, are in the present sense devoid of
meaning in so far as they cannot be related to an intended purpose. That
is to say they are devoid of meaning if they cannot be related to action
in the role of means or ends but constitute only the stimulus, the favoring
or hindering of circumstances."
It seems like everything except accidents can be related to an intended meaning. Are any of you familiar with Weber's work?
Is he trying to say that something is devoid of meaning if it only serves to "progress the story" so to say?
2 Answers
- Barney GoogleLv 78 years ago
Oh yeah, whatever, because he's a little old and crusty. If you are reading the older sociologists, you have to take them with a "grain of salt". Weber's politics was about authority. If you have free will, you don't need to 'escape' authority because authority is assigned to the rule by the parties who act in that regard. Authenticity is the quality of the ruling party most attractive, or seemingly best rewarded.
The things without meaning are obstacles to the mainstream. We always complain about certain things which by our own judgment are wasteful to government or a bureaucracy.
This is a derivitive view, my own interpretation, and it is not co-opted by the current thinking.
- JohnLv 78 years ago
I think he means that for behavior to have a meaning it must be goal directed. If I study mathematics in order to pass a test and ultimate to get a degree that is goal directed behavior and has meaning. But if I just like mathematics and study it as a hobby in order to amuse myself then it is not goal directed and has no meaning. It is the goal of a behavior which gives it a meaning.
In his most famous book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," Max Weber argued that the goal of a Christian in doing his daily work was to please God so he did it as well as possible. This goal also tended to make him financially successful. He gained money to invest--capital. And personal wealth came to be seen as God's approval of successful econmic activities.
