Tirelo Mothupi. MA : Public Relations and Publicity

COMMUNICATION THEORY: MAX WEBBER’S VIEW ON SOCIETY

Abstract In this report some of Max Weber’s major arguments are discussed. For example, Weber says that social action is an action which takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in this course. The types of social action are traditional social action affective social action and rational social action. He also says that a pure bureaucratic type of administration is capable of achieving the highest degree of efficiency. His ideas on social class and capitalism are discussed in this report

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Contents

i.Executive summary ..................................................................................................................................... 2

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 4

2. MAX WEBER’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL SCIENCES. ............................................................................ 5

2.1. SOCIAL ACTION THEORY .................................................................................................................... 5

2.1.1 TRADITIONAL SOCIAL ACTION...................................................................................................... 6

2.1.2 AFFECTIVE SOCIAL ACTION .......................................................................................................... 6

2.1.3 RATIONAL SOCIAL ACTION. .......................................................................................................... 6

2.2.1 WHAT DO OTHER SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT HUMAN ACTIONS? ....................... 7

2.2.2 HOW DOES SOCIAL ACTION APPLY TO TODAY’S WORLD? .......................................................... 7

3. İDEAL TYPES............................................................................................................................................... 8

3.1. THREE LEVELS OF IDEAL TYPES .......................................................................................................... 8

3.1.1 HISTORICAL PARTICULARITIES ..................................................................................................... 8

3.1.2 BUREAUCRACY ............................................................................................................................. 8

3. 1. 3 RATIONALITY .............................................................................................................................. 9

3.2.1 HOW DO MAX WEBER’S IDEAL TYPES CONTRIBUTE TO OUR STUDIES IN COMMUNICATION

THEORIES? ............................................................................................................................................. 9

4. AUTHORITY................................................................................................................................................ 9

4.1.1 TRADİTİONAL AUTHORİTY ............................................................................................................ 9

4.1.2 CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY ........................................................................................................... 9

4.1. 3 RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORİTY ................................................................................................... 10

4. 2 WEBER’S IDEAL TYPE OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY. ................................................................. 10

5. MAX WEBER’S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION AND CAPITALISM. .................................................................. 10

5.1 THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM ............................................................... 11

5.1.2 BOSTON TRIAL OF PREACHER KEENE IN THE MID 1600S- MARTİN LUTHER’S İNFLUENCE ON

CAPİTALİSM. ........................................................................................................................................ 11

5.1.3 JOHN CALVİN .............................................................................................................................. 12

5.1.4 METHODİSTS .............................................................................................................................. 12

5.1.5 SCOTTİSH PRESBYTERİAN ........................................................................................................... 12

6. SOCİAL CLASS THEORY ............................................................................................................................ 13

7. CONCLUSİON ........................................................................................................................................... 14

8.REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................. 15

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i.Executive summary The purpose of this report is to critically analyse Max Weber’s work as well as his contribution to

social science and more specifically to the department of communication. For purposes of clarity,

Max Weber is introduced to the reader by giving out general information about his background.

Not only does the present report give information about his birth but also how he met his demise,

equally important his religious and academic background are set out in detail. Weber together

with Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim are often referred to as among the three founding fathers of

sociology. As a founding father of sociology- he defines sociology as a science which attempts

the interpretive understanding of social action in order to arrive at a casual explanation of its course

and effects (Coser,1977:217). The above mentioned explanation has been time honoured even to

date and that clearly shows that he has indeed undeniably made a tremendous contribution towards

the development of sociology.

In his book titled Economic society he alludes to the fact that“… this is an action which takes

account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in this course”. As human beings in our

sphere of influence we attach our actions based on specific historical contexts. Max Weber further

talks of the three types of social actions namely: Traditional social action, affective social action

and rational social action (Goal oriented and value oriented). Ideal Types according to Weber is a

model formulated by individuals in the mind. These models are used by individual to scrutinise

and characterise a situation (Roth & Wittich eds, 1978). These ideal types are analysed in the report

particularly looking at how he used these ideal types as a means of explaining social realities. The

three levels of ideal types that he spoke about were: Historical particularities, Bureaucracy and

Rationalizing. He also goes on to talk about the types of authorities within societies, he argues

that there are three types of which are traditional authority, charismatic authority and rational legal

authority.

Capitalism was one of the studies covered by Max Weber in his book – “protestant ethics and the

spirit of capıtalısm” Max Weber as a social scientist studied the impact of belief on people’s

behavior. Weber argues that religion lead to a social change. He studied the changes made by the

reformation of the protestant church (Carr, 2003:9). He concentrated on Martin Luther’s church

reforms which liberated the people from the catholic rule. Weber illustrated how Martin Luther

brought about the ideology that the sovereign God wanted his people to be rich there by going to

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heaven. Hence people were motivated to work hard and be rich so that other people in the society

will know that they are going to heaven when they die. To briefly sum up, Max Weber believed

that religion was the dominant factor of what influences different types of people to act the way

they did. As mentioned previously, he studied people of the Protestant faith, and the Roman

Catholic faith in different countries and he found that people of the Protestant religion believed

that they were blessed if they were financially wealthy--this was a sure sign for them that they

would go to heaven (Carr, 2003:9). The Roman Catholics believed that since they attended church,

they were automatically saved. Weber also created the idea of the Protestant ethic, and the spirit

of capitalism as well. The Protestant ethic, according to him, was to work your way in society, and

rewards that were given to you were signs of being blessed, such as money again. This created

capitalism, the profit of money. Weber conducted a search, concluding that capitalism was higher

in the countries who followed the Protestant religion. On the contrary, Weber unlike Marx did not

fully agree that labor divisions were the source of capitalism. He believed that capitalism can be

traced back to the 15 00s during the time of Martin Luther who helped sow the seeds of capitalism

(Landis, 1947:520) . He believed that religion planted the seeds of capitalism. Unlike Karl Marx

who defines class in terms of capital and labor he believed that class can be defined in terms

markets i.e. Status/ Prestige, Class income and Power.

The conclusion will give a general overview of Weber’s ideas and contributions to social science

more specifically to the faculty of communication.

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1. INTRODUCTION Max Weber is well known as the “Father of sociology” and also known as a Critical theorist

because of his robust and critical analysis of what is in the mind. Before looking into his critical

theories it is equally important to look at his background. Max Weber rarely used his full name

which was Maximillian Karl Emil Max Weber but rather he just used Max Weber. He was born in

1864 in Germany and died of Nimonia in 1920. He worked as a Sociologist, Philosopher and

Political economist yet he trained as a lawyer and historian (Coser,1977:217-219). His work

includes but not limited to the following books: Roman Agrarian History and its Significance for

Public and Private Law (1891), Condition of Farm Labour in Eastern Germany (1892), The Stock

Exchange (1896), The Objectivity of the Sociological and Social-Political Knowledge (1904), The

Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism (1915),The Religion of India: The Sociology of

Hinduism and Buddhism (1916), Sociology of Religion (1920), Ancient Judaism (1921), The

City (1921),)The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (1947), Basic Concepts in

Sociology (1952), The Three Types of Legitimate Rule (1958), Sociology of Community,

Sociology of Rulership and Religion and Sociology of the World Religions: Introduction. However

in this report only the most popular books are discussed which are; Economy and Society, The

Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, science as a vocation/politics and From Max Weber:

Essay in sociology

In his book titled Economy and society He looked at various subjects such as economics, politics,

public administration and sociology. In this book gave the first strictly empirical comparison of

social structure and normative order in world historical depth. Weber’s work combines

individualism with logical analysis of social structures and their internal laws and tendencies; it

combines a typology of social forms that seeks to avoid the pitfalls of social evolutionary thought

with a history of the rise of the West and its inescapable iron casing of rationalization and

bureaucratization (Coser,1977:218). Weber is also well-known for his notion which combines

economic sociology and the sociology of religion, elaborated in his book “The Protestant Ethic

and the Spirit of Capitalism”, in which he claimed that frugal Protestantism was one of the main

causes which led to the rise in the Western world of market-driven capitalism and the rational-

legal nation-state (Parsons, 1989: 23). It is in this very same book where Weber emphasized on

the importance of cultural influences embedded in religion as a means for understanding the

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beginning of capitalism. Weber talks of religion planting “the seeds of capitalism” which will be

discussed further in the report.

Max Weber also wrote a book called “science as a vocation/politics”, where he debates the

advantages and disadvantages of selecting a graduate career in the sciences. He analyses the

importance of science, noting that ethics themselves are not subject to scientific examination.

According to Webber, in as much as science is said to be based on reality it is not free from

assumptions, and the value of a science is lost when its assumptions are rejected above all cannot

answer all the fundamental questions of life. Another literature that he wrote which is still

celebrated is called “From Max Weber: Essay in sociology”. Basically in this book Weber defines

class in terms of markets he says that Social class can be defined by status/ Prestige, class income

and power. This book is in contradiction to Karl Max social class theory which says that social

classes came about as a result of labor division (Gerth and Wright, eds, 1978).

2. MAX WEBER’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL SCIENCES.

2.1. SOCIAL ACTION THEORY Max Weber says that a human being is a rational thinking being. Rational thinking according to

him means reasoning differently. For example, suppose there is fire in a room with ten people

inside, one may note that all these ten people will react differently. It is in this context that Max

Weber says that human beings’ way of thinking have to be understood differently (Coser,

1977:217-219). That is why he defined sociology as a science which attempts the interpretive

understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a casual explanation of its course and

effects. Which leads to the issue of focus in this definition which is social action.

According to Max Weber social action is to be distinguished from behavior in that it involves

meaning and intentions therefore social action would mean an action which takes account of

behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course. In simpler terms social action is any

meaningful action that is oriented towards somebody. Normally as human beings in their sphere

of influence attach their actions based on specific historical context, that is we respond to stimuli

based on our past experiences but Weber states three types of social actions that he believe

influences human behavior. The three types of social action that he spoke of are; traditional social

action, affective social action and rational social action.

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2.1.1 TRADITIONAL SOCIAL ACTION

Weber says we act the way we do based on our traditional believes in this case we are governed

by the individual societies we belong (Coser, 1977:217). For example, a woman raised in a

patriarchal society where men abuse women and in that society it is considered normal. This

woman will not rebel against the man or take any form of action against this man. However her

reactions to the abuse if she was brought up in a feminist society where stand up for their rights

and do not take the abuse. It is because of her traditional believes that she will react in a particular

way.

2.1.2 AFFECTIVE SOCIAL ACTION.

In this case Max Weber says sometimes human actions may be influenced by the emotional state

of the person affected. However, for Weber it is important to note that these may often be

somewhat unconscious, for example “uncontrolled reaction to some exceptional stimulus”. While

this may lead to a more “conscious release of emotional tension”, an alternative view is that it may

be less conscious and more reactive. For example, a parent come from work tired and annoyed by

absconding employees only to find the his or child having broken their favorite flower port and

out of anger beats the child whereas under normal circumstances would not beat the child. That

would be considered to be affective social action as the actor reacted based on anger which are

emotions ( Coser, 1977:217-219).

2.1.3 RATIONAL SOCIAL ACTION.

Max Weber says that Rational social actions are social actions with “rationally pursued and

calculated ends” and where “the end, the means, and the secondary results are rationally taken into

account and weighed”. This means that the actor weighing the consequence of their action before

actually doing what they want to do (Habil, 2000:14). Max Weber concluded that we react to

situation according to order of importance, we rank our situation, one we give more priority we

tend to react quickly. He says there is what he calls Value-rational action. These are social actions

where the end or value may be pursued for its own sake. In such actions there is “self-conscious

formulation of the ultimate values governing the action” and consistently planned orientation of

its detailed course.

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However Max Weber states that one cannot completely understand social action through

observation only hence he suggest two ways of understanding social action. He says that one can

directly observe and then interact with the actor. For example, if one sees two people are fighting

it may be because they are professional boxers earning a living or they could be normal people

who had a misunderstanding, unless one interacts with the actor to understand why they are

fighting. It is in this context that Max Weber called this method interpretative understanding and

from this understanding he formulated a tool called the ldeal type. Before any further discussions

on the ideal types there questions that still need to be answered such as; “what do other social

scientists have to say about human actions?” And “How does social action apply to today’s

world?”

2.2.1 WHAT DO OTHER SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT HUMAN ACTIONS?

Karl Marx– said we act the way we do due to conflicts between social classes within changing

social structures and productive relations. He does not see humans as individually who can think

rationally and act based on their own judgment of a particular situation but human actions are

always subject to the conflicts between the two classes. On the other hand, Durkheim argued that

we act the way we do because of the formal establishments which maintain balance between social

structures (The Taylor & Francis Group 2011). .

2.2.2 HOW DOES SOCIAL ACTION APPLY TO TODAY’S WORLD?

According to Landis (1947: 517- 518) Max Weber's research on social action has helped to clarify

the social factors that have brought about the rationalization of Western civilization in modern

society. Weber claimed that, whether in the domain of politics or economics, in the realm of the

law and even in interpersonal relationships, the efficient application of means to ends has since

become the main cause of human behavior (Landis, 1947: 519). For example, as simple thing like

a business man employing an accountant. Firstly the business man hires accountant to insure that

the cash-flow is well managed thus the business man is using the accountant as a means to an end.

Yet again the accountant is using the business man as a means to an end as he will be getting

something from him as well. In terms of public relations or communication, knowing the types of

social actions that Weber talks about i.e Tradition- in terms of their traditional believes and

practices how would the target market respond to information being relayed, Affective and

Rational social action helps in the way we brand ourselves in community.

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3. İDEAL TYPES Ideal types according to Max Weber ideal types methodology is a mental construct, like a model

for the scrutiny and systematic characterization of a concrete situation Weber used the ideal types

as a methodological tool to understand and analyse social reality. The ideal types concept develop

the human skills in manipulation as it is not description of reality but it aims to give unambiguous

means of expression to such description (Roth, & Wittich, eds: 1978). In other words ideal types

are concepts formulated on the basis of facts collected carefully and analytically for imperial

research. Hence ideal types are constructs of concepts which are used as methodological devices

or tools in our understanding and analysis of any social phenomena. Ideal types can be used to

measure how well a constitution is holding up to the purest form. Max Weber illustrates this by

using three levels of ideal type which are; historical particularities, bureaucracy and rationalizing.

3.1. THREE LEVELS OF IDEAL TYPES

3.1.1 HISTORICAL PARTICULARITIES

According to Weber in Economy and Society (Roth, & Wittich, eds: 1978) in this case one will

reflect only on a historical event in its greatest perfection and in a particular cultural area and

measure performance accordingly. For example, according to Wallersten E (pg 19:1999) the

African National Congress is one of the oldest national liberation in the world and the latest

movement to have achieved its primary objective which is political power. In case a new political

part emerges out of the ANC in South Africa and wants to achieve political power and would want

to last over a hundred years just like the ANC in the same South Africa according to Max Weber

the new party must reflect on the out- standing perfect activities done by the ANC in the past and

compare it with what they are doing now as a way to measure their performance.

3.1.2 BUREAUCRACY

Weber informs the reader that in a perfect world in its perfect state a bureaucracy would have clear

division of labor (Weber,1978).Workers must be assigned to do specific tasks to ensure that all

duties are carried out. He also says that the rules and regulations of an institution must be clear

meaning that the workers are informed about what is requıred of them as in the dos and don’ts of

the institutions. He says that people should be hired according to their technical qualifications

which means if is hired as a doctor that person must have studied medicine at some point in time

and have a license to practice. He says that all members of a bureaucratic constitution should be

treated professionally meaning they should practice impersonality

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3. 1. 3 RATIONALITY

Ideal types enable one to construct hypotheses linking them with the conditions that brought the

phenomenon or event into prominence, or with consequences that follow from its emergence. Max

Weber suggests that people measure their performance through being rational that is analyzing the

possible outcome of their actions (Roth, & Wittich, eds: 1978).

3.2.1 HOW DO MAX WEBER’S IDEAL TYPES CONTRIBUTE TO OUR STUDIES IN COMMUNICATION

THEORIES?

In the study of communication models or the new media and other aspects of communication

researchers need to formulate benchmark systems in which progress can be measured. If one has

something to look back on then they can estimate the future out comes. The ideal types gives one

clarity on how world systems operates (Habil, 2000)

4. AUTHORITY Max Weber says that legal authority rests on the acceptance of the validity of the following ideas:

Norms/laws may be established by agreement or by imposition on the grounds of expediency or

value rationality or both. Law is a consistent system of abstract rules which was intentionally

established(Habil, 2000:7). Hence gave three types of leadership within different societies. He

talks about traditional authority, charismatic authority and rational authority.

4.1.1 TRADİTİONAL AUTHORİTY

Some societies are ruled according to the past experiences. They would follow the same method

of governing and punishment (Habil, 2000:9-10). For example, a mother would raise her child the

same way she was raised by her mother because that is the best method of raising a child that she

is used to and above all she believes it works. In traditional authority leader tend to rule over others

without being questioned. In such institutions there is use of common phrases such as “this is how

things have always been done”. The authority is handed down from the past without any contesting

for example, the first-born prince will eventually take over kingship.

4.1.2 CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY

Under charismatic leadership members of the society literally worship the leader they believe and

do everything that the leader says and this can be very dangerous because not only is there good

charisma but also there is bad charisma (Habil, 2000:10). For example, in South Africa Desmond

Tutu is an example of a charismatic leader who along-side with Nelson Mandela managed to

convince the black and white South Africans that it is possible to live peacefully together. On other

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hand there was Hitler who under his leadership millions of Jews were killed because he convinced

the Germans that the Jews were bad people. The society members under such authority are

dangerous because they do not question whether their actions are good or bad, their main aim is to

appease the leaders.

4.1. 3 RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORİTY

In rational legal authority leaders are leader because majority of the society members want them

to be their leaders, i.e they are elected into power based on legitimacy and capability(Habil,

2000:10). There are also laws that govern this kind of authority one example being that the leaders

must have specialized training on leadership.

4. 2 WEBER’S IDEAL TYPE OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY. Max Webber says that “… bureaucracy is the purest type of legal authority…” This is so because

an organisation that employs a bureaucracy administrative system has clear in its division of labor,

clear rules and regulations, clear hierarchy of authority and recruitment is based on technical

qualification with high levels of impersonality. Which means that everyone is assigned to

particular duties hence they would know what is expected of them in that organization. The

members work under certain rules that are meant to protect them and the organization. In such

organisations staff members are hired according to qualification which means the system is fair.

Hence Max Weber argues that …..The purely bureaucratic type of administration, from the

technical point of view, it is capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency. It makes possible

a particular high degree of calculability….. (Habil, 2000:12).

5. MAX WEBER’S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION AND CAPITALISM. Religion has been one of the most discussed subjects in sociology. Max Weber wrote his own

literature on religion and capitalism called “The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism”.

However, Max Weber did not study the realty of the religious beliefs but rather he studied the

impact of religion on human behavior. He did not dwell on whether the beliefs are true of false.

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5.1 THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM In this book Max Weber acknowledges that religion sometimes was used to manipulate people but

also at times leads to social change. So he tries to illustrate this by studying the protestant

reformation to see its direct and indirect effect on society. The major themes in this book are

empirical evidence of correlation between capitalism and Protestantism, the spirit of capitalism,

Martin Luther, John Calvin, Methodists and the Scottish Presbyterians’ influence on capitalism

(Weber,1989:30).

5.1.2 BOSTON TRIAL OF PREACHER KEENE IN THE MID 1600S- MARTİN LUTHER’S İNFLUENCE ON

CAPİTALİSM.

Weber in his book talks about Martin Luther who was a preacher of the protestant church. Martin

Luther emphasized the importance of the individual relationship directly with God. He opposed

the Catholic Church that was in power, he opposed the catholic traditions of asking for intercession

from mother Mary or other saints. Luther opposed the power of other priests and the church

hierarchy. He emphasized on individuality while the Catholic Church had emphasized on the

importance of group membership.

Europe in the 1500s was feudal, had no standard coins of currency and the Catholic Church

controlled everything. There was no middle class its either one is poor is rich and that case the

catholic leadership was the rich and the rest of the people were poor. This was because according

to Martin Luther the Catholic leadership ruled under false principles. They told the people that

buying low selling high is sin, if one loses goods they cannot charge more because it’s a sin and if

one paid too much one cannot charge more because it is a sin. Hence most ordinary did not work

and did not have wealth they were encourage to give their wealth away so that they may enter

heaven. Martin disagreed with the people as only the leaders were living comfortably yet the rest

of the people were excluded from this comfortable lifestyle. Martin Luther told the people that

work is good. Regular productive work is as good as being a priest or nun. This lead to the

following changes in the 1600s; Standard coins, during the Catholic Church era people bought

goods with either goods or services. People got off the barter system i.e people began to trade

goods for money. Kingdoms uniting for example United Kingdom above all Catholic Church

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losing political. This was a step towards capitalism as people began to work and accumulate

income.

5.1.3 JOHN CALVİN

Even after all Martin Luther had said people still did not spend that money and that’s when John

Calvin comes in to say that going to heaven is predestined its either one is going to heaven or not,

so if you are going to hell why not just party and enjoy life. Max Weber says that they didn’t just

party because people were in an existential quandary they didn’t know who was selected hence

they began to work harder so that their neighbors would know that they have been selected to go

to heaven. The worked harder so that they can continuously live an expensive lifestyle which was

a sing to neighbors. This was yet another step towards capitalism.

5.1.4 METHODİSTS

Now that the people had become wealth and obtain a lump sum of assets the Methodist church

encouraged its people to be strategic and keep a record of your earnings. They said,”…work is

good and the individual is important and success in business is a sign that one is going to heaven

but remember the goods don’t belong to you hence planful.” Now people began to manage their

income and cash-flow.

5.1.5 SCOTTİSH PRESBYTERİAN

The Presbyterians advised the people to be frugal with their money. The people should not spend

the money that they have worked hard for on themselves rather they should invest in businesses

and give to charity.

From studying these activists Max Weber says that the ideal type of capitalistic entrepreneur

avoids ostentation and unnecessary expenditure as well as conscious enjoyment of his power his

manner of life is distinguished by certain ascetic tendency. He gets nothing out of his wealth for

himself except the rational sense of having his job done well. He would invest in a lot of businesses

to insure accumulation of profıts and give to charity as a way of marketing his organization. Thus

Max Weber concludes by saying that religion planted the seeds of capitalism which are; people

working harder, being frugal, planning and people living high standards of life. He said that

religion retarded social progress by deluding the poor that they would receive their riches in

heaven. Therefore safely concluding that religion can cause social and political change as we see

the over throw of the catholic authority and member of society becoming richer.

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6. SOCİAL CLASS THEORY Unlike Karl Marx who defines class in terms of capital and labour Max Weber defines class in

terms of markets. He says social class can be defined by the following:

• Status/ Prestige-Status refers to the relative rank that an individual holds; this includes

attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based upon honor or prestige. Status has

two different types that come along with it: achieved, and ascribed (Gerth & Wright (eds.)2009:

100). The word status refers to social stratification on a vertical scale. For example, if one is a

teacher and the other is unemployed, the teacher will be in the upper class and the unemployed

would in lower class.

• Class income- income on a general note means a payment of wages usually earned from

work or investments (Gerth & Wright (eds.)2009: 101). In this case Max Weber says that the higher

your income is the higher your chances of belonging to first class are. For example, a doctor makes

more income than a nurse that makes the doctor first class.

• Power- Max Weber describes power as the ability to control others, events, or resources;

to make happen what one wants to happen in spite of obstacles, resistance, or opposition (Gerth &

Wright (eds.)2009: 102). Power is a thing that is held, coveted, seized, taken away, lost, or stolen,

and it is used in what are essentially known as adversarial relationships involving conflict between

those with power and those without. If one has the ability to cause change in his or her society then

that means the person qualifies for first class. For example a president can introduce new law and

change things in his country.

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7. CONCLUSİON Having discussed Max Webers's theories it remains an undeniable fact that Max weber’s ideology

may not be realistic to some individuals for example his idea of bureaucracy being the best form

of authority. Some may agree because everything is done according to the books and mistakes can

be traced and avoided but on the other hand some may argue that everything is subject to change

and members of the society at times need to be consulted (Adam 2005: 1). Hence one may argue

that Weber’s theory depends on the context of the situation in order for them to be applicable.

Weber's explanations are highly specific to the historical periods he analysed (Carr 2003:13). He

says that bureaucracy is efficient because of its precision, speed, consistency, availability of

records, continuity, possibility of secrecy, unity, rigorous coordination, and minimization of

interpersonal friction, personal costs, and material costs”. One may argue that this type of authority

exclude the person who is actually doing the work which creates unhappiness (Adam 2005: 3).

This makes it more difficult to generalise from his analysis and modify his theories for other

circumstances. However, his contributions in the field of communication must not over-looked.

Through understanding social action communication stands a chance of improvement.

Communication deals with societies that have rational thinking beings so there is need to

understand their different attributes in order to achieve the desired results.

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8.REFERENCES Adam B. (2005). The Future in Max Weber’s Methodological Writings. New York

Carr. P. 2003.Revisiting the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: Understanding the

Relationship between Ethics and Enterprise.Small Business and Empirical Perspectives in

Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics.47(1) 7-16.

Coser, D. (1977) Max Weber -Introduction. pg.217-219.

http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/undergraduate/introsoc/weber5.html

Gerth, H. H. and Mills, C. Wright (eds.), From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. (2009)London:

Routledge and Kegan, pp. 77-128. (Original work published 1919)

Habil. A, W. (2000). Criticism for Max Weber’s Bureaucracy. College of Commerce. The

Islamic University of Gaza.

Landis. J.T. 1947. Social Action by Protestant Churches. American Journal of Sociology.

52(6)517-522

Radkau, J. (2009). Max Weber: A Biography.

http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745641478

The Taylor & Francis Group. (2011). Durkheim, E-Social Solidarity.

http://theory.routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/social-solidarity.517-522

Trainer T. (2010). Marxist Theory. https://socialsciences.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/Marx.html

Wallerstein, E. 1999. The end of the world as we know it. University of Minnesota press.

London

Weber, M. (1989/1904-5).The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Parsons, T. Transl

Intro. A. Giddens, London: Unwin Hyman. (First published 1930)

Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society. Roth, G. & Wittich, C. eds. University of Califonia.