Webers Rational Theory: from Traditionalism to Modernity - Essay Example

Weber’s Rational Theory: from Traditionalism to Modernity I. Introduction Even though the thematic coherence of the works of Max Weber has been greatly put into doubt there are at least a number of agreements that the development of rationalization is fundamental to an appreciation of Weber’s thesis. The nature of rationalization emerged as a significant concern in Weber’s sociological investigation of modern societies at every emphasis of his sociological theory. While there is widespread concurrence as to the essentiality of rationality and rationalization in the ideas of Weber, it is inquisitive that this quality of his work has not obtained far-reaching and systematic scrutiny (Ferraroti 1982). Present studies of Weber’s insight of rationality commonly draw attention to the inconsistent characteristic of rationalization in human societies, particularly in capitalism. There are several domains to this inconsistent feature of rationality. The progression of western rationality has to some degree a chief source in the irrationality of the Protestant pursuit for salvation. There is moreover a conflicting association between formal and substantive rationality where substantive concerns of importance are inferior to formal concerns of logic. There is the further contradiction that the product of rationalization is a dimension that is basically devoid of meaning, deficient in moral direction and prevailed upon by a bureaucratic system (ibid). II. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism While Weber’s examination of the relationship between the doctrine of asceticism of Protestantism and capitalism has received thorough and potential unnecessary criticisms, the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism embodies the fundamental point of Weber’s perspective of the history, nature and influences of rationalization. The Calvinistic pursuit for security of salvation gives impetus through a method of accidental outcomes to a culture that put emphasis on reason, stability, unity, moderation and world-mastery (Robertson 1933). Protestantism cut the umbilical cord that had since time bonded the individual to the powerful institutions of the church and hence produced a new kind of selfish individualism, which had the result of sanctioning monetary value and producing a culture committed to labour and the conversion of the human environment. Protestantism weakened the particularistic affairs of the family and other relatives through generating a new framework of the political structure. Having secluded the individual and cleansed the rapport with the divinity, Protestantism refuted the supernatural value of the sacraments and built a culture compassionate to natural science and rational investigation (Miller 1963). Moreover, Protestant set of guidelines regarding to the household destabilized the time-honoured authority of the clergy as confessor and demanded greater responsibilities on parents as mentors of bad children (ibid). The Reformation was therefore a key mechanism in the revolution of western urban way of life that motivated a new type of rationality typical of the urban elite or bourgeoisie, a rational civilization scattering decisively to every social class and group within the context of western culture. Even though there is substantial conflict with Weber’s perception of this development and the role of spiritual organizations in the transformation of the west, there is similarity between the work of historians conforming to the Marxist tradition and sociologists who are advocates of Weber (Turner 1993). Max Weber’s examinations of the Protestant factions can be perceived as a matter of fact as a historical account of mentalities, particularly, the historical narrative of the surfacing of a modern form of consciousness that is constructed within a rational institution. It can be concluded then that together with this historical account of mentalities, there is the historical narrative of the body. Weber’s discussion of rationalization as an evolutionary process can be as well as perceived as an argument of both the appearance of a specific form of consciousness and as the investigation of the coming out of new kinds of discipline that controlled and mobilized the powers of the human body (Wison 2004). III. The Philosophical Anthropology of Weber’s Celebrated Work In the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber asserted that people do not naturally desire to gain more and more money, but aim instead to replicate the traditional circumstances of existence in order to continue living without excess production. Under such conditions it would be irrational to generate an excess or surplus where no channel for and buy and sell activities or demand present for such surplus products (Turner 1993). Weber’s Protestant Ethic premise seeks to recognise the two basic circumstances whereby this natural reproduction was expanded. These two circumstances were the detachment of the peasantry from the means of production through several kinds of inclusion and the growth of an ascetic calling in the human world to govern and master the environment. These two circumstances established labour both indispensable and worthy of admiration. These modifications in the means of production and virtues had the consequence of lessening and controlling impulsive indulgence (ibid). Apparently, there is an embedded philosophical anthropology in Weber’s explanation of rationalization, and this anthropology is not completely dissimilar the anthropology that many know to be relevant in the theories of Karl Marx. Weber perceives history in a manner identical to Marx who observed the development of capitalism as forcefully removing humanity out of the natural communal perspective. In this natural environment, people are immature in the sense that their consciousness of truth is not spontaneous and are substantially immature. Their needs are to some extent limited to instant satisfaction and production. There is in a sense a natural link between demand and the economy where both are regulated at a bare amount (Lowith 1993). There is thus a type of division in Weber between use-values in this normal economy and exchange values in a structure that is dominantly capitalistic. The rationalization of the body with respect to the moderating of energies and an enlargement of needs is hence a fundamental theme of Weber’s account of capitalist development (ibid). In common terms, it is evident that this secularization and rationalization of the body as a development from inner spiritual limitations on the passions to outside secular intensifications and displays of desire. Particularly, bodies in societies that are pre-capitalistic are enclosed in a religious structure of meaning and practice where the primary goal of control was the interior system of emotion. In modern societies the organization of control and importance is located on the external surfaces of the body visualized in a secular structure as the bases of advantageous sentiment and personal significance. For Weber, modern restraints had their sources in two dissimilar institutional orders; these were the church and the military (Baehr 2002). It was in the orders of the church, or particularly the monastery, of medieval Europe that the earliest diets and restraints materialized to subordinate desire to the will and to free the soul from the overly sentimental relevance of the body as flesh. As sociologist Ervin Goffman has noted, the monastery offered a complete environment of restraint and a way of life that was dedicated to the control of human sexual emotion and drive. Weber’s Protestant ethic premise proposed that this discussion of restraint within the context of the monastic order was relocated to the everyday existence of the household thru the Protestant notion of the calling to govern reality. The Reformation transmitted the monk from the secluded chambers of the monastery to the intimate rooms of the modern household in premature capitalism. There is as well as the subject matter in Weber’s military sociology that the army was the earliest emphasis of social regulation whereby big bodies of men were shaped into a well-organized entity through personal control and bureaucratic demand structures (ibid). When spirituality and militarism were integrated in a single framework, the repercussions for the progression of discipline were amplified. IV. Conclusion Sociology of capitalism by Weber provides a widespread and organized perspective for the investigation of rationalization developments in modern society and a perspective for particularly recognizing the transformation of the status of the human body in social order from land-based economy to a profit-based one. Weber offered much of the thorough examination of awareness, authority and discipline that is indispensable as a framework on the revolution of European society under the influence of modern capitalism. He was mainly concerned with adjustments in awareness and consciousness, but this framework can be broadened and adjusted to the analysis of the moderation of the body and of populations (Turner 1992). There seems to be a common process whereby the body stops to be a quality of religious civilization and is integrated thru medicalization (ibid) into a subject matter within the context of a scientific argument. Moreover, the internal controls on the body as a system of regulating the mind seem to transfer to the external component of the body, which turns out to be the symbol of value and reputation in modern societies. In a few words, “to look good is to be good” (Turner 1993, 138). Thus, there is a growing role for beauty products and body treatment in a social order submitted to open displays of personal prestige within a modern society where self-centeredness is a dominant attribute. Works Cited Baehr, Peter. "In the Grip of Freedom: Law and Modernity in Max Weber." Canadian Journal of Sociology (2002): 587+. Ferrarotti, Franco. Max Weber and the Destiny of Reason. Armonk, BY: M.E. Sharpe, 1982. Lowith, Karl. Max Weber and Karl Marx. New York: Routledge, 1993. Miller, S.M. Max Weber. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1963. Robertson, H.M. Aspects of the Rise of Economic Individualism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1933. Turner, Bryan S. Max Weber: From History to Modernity. London: Routledge, 1993. Turner, Charles. Modernity and Politics in the Work of Max Weber. New York: Routledge, 1992. Wison, H.T. The Vocation of Reason: Studies in Critical Theory and Social Science in the Age of Max Weber. Boston: Brill, 2004. Other References Keyes, Charles F. Weber and Anthropology. 2002. Leh, Hartmut (ed). Weber’s Protestant Ethic: Origins, Evidence, Contexts. 1993. Morriaon, Ken. Marx, Durkheim, Weber. Formation of Modern Social Thought. 2006. Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the "spirit" of Capitalism. 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