Transcript Max Weber ’s Theories

Political Economy: Max Weber’s
Theories
By
Dr. Kim Sedara
Sept 2013
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class
• Very influential from Karl Marx
• Marx’s theory of Class is the property
relationship based on boss and slave
(bourgeois/small & proletariat/big)
• Class is weak in the beginning and getting
intensified over time.
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class (Cont’)
• Weber: defined class as market situation
between employer and employee in the modern
market economy, not with status.
• Weber: class is intensified in the beginning but
eased up overtime, especially in capitalism.
• Class is defined into three characteristics
– Status/prestige/stratification
– Class/income/wealth
– Power
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class (Cont’)
• Each individual is impossible to have all the
three.
• The distinct of the three is historical
• Power is dependent variable, is exercised on
status and power/rational-legal, and income.
• Class & Market
• Class interest & class action
• Class is different from status
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class (Cont’)
• In capitalism you don’t need to get approval from
president, but to invest if you want to be rich.
• Class is under the market chances in investment,
education—getting more incomes.
• Class interest & class action: depends on
economic interest. You belong to a class because
labor situation and your rational action to the
market.
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Max Weber’s Theory of Class (Cont’)
• Status group: is a special social esteem, honor, a
nobleman’s status depends on education, doctor,
lawyer...
• Status as honor: life style of individual, way of
dress and behave, level of education, social
discourse.
• Status as privileges: material goods, special
employment
• Economic conditions of status: success in market,
• Caste: if the status is widen can get stratifications
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Weber’s Ideal Types
• The concepts of ideal types
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Bureaucracies
Must be understood
Are not real
Measuring sticks
• The characteristics of ideal types to work
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Division of labor
Rules and representation
Hierarchy of authority (Military)
Technical qualifications (merit-base)
Impersonality (not nepotism and conflict of interest)
** Must understand things in relations to history
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Weber’s Types of Authority
• There are three types of authority
 Traditional
 Charismatic
 Rational-legal authority
• Traditional: patriarchy, rule over others
without questioned, handed down from the
past, given legitimacy by custom, we’ve have
always come this way
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Weber’s Types of Authority (Cont’)
• Charismatic authority: worship, good and bad
charisma, given legitimacy by leader’s magical
power-revelation, do it because you want
appease me.
• Rational-legal authority: elected leaders,
status allows them to rule, electing anchor
legitimacy, central to rational society, I do it
because you accepted me as your leader.
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Weber’s on Bureaucracy
• Bureaucracy is a rational-legal authority.
• Rule of law: a system of authority/law and
elected.
• Bureaucracy depends on: division of powers,
representation, and collegiality.
• How law and norm can be established and who
obey it?
• Law can be established by acceptance from all
sides with shared values, intentionally and
consistency.
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Weber’s on Bureaucracy (Cont’)
• Who obey? person in authority, subject to
impersonal order, obey only the law but not
person.
• Nature of rational-legal authority: rule bound and
changed slowly, sphere of competency, otherwise
can’t exercise the law, hierarchy, specialized
training in the right responsibility, separation of
responsibility, impersonal but bound to rule.
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Weber’s on Bureaucracy (Cont’)
• Types of bureaucracy: administrative staff,
personally free, organized in hierarchy of
office, qualifications-contract, meritocracy,
salary based on qualification, contribute to
career, avoid multiple jobs and conflict of
interest.
• Efficiency of bureaucracy: performance of
capacity and credibility with predictability.
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Weber’s on Bureaucracy (Cont’)
• Bureaucracy and Capitalism: lies on technical
knowledge, domination to knowledge and competence,
formal bureaucratic rule, competency and merit-based
recruitment, technical capacity building, impersonal.
• Collegiality: stick to profession, consultation, listening to
advices, aided by technical experts, mutual respect, free
to express, clear separation of power but rule base,
representation to mandate—mostly by the chief.
Thanks
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