222-612: Social science is one of the branches of science , devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology , the original "science of society", established in the 18th century. In addition to sociology, it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines , including anthropology , archaeology , economics , geography , linguistics , management , communication studies , psychology , culturology and political science . Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those used in
444-508: A Protestant perspective to the political debate regarding the social question . In the same year, the Verein established a research program to examine the Ostflucht , which was the western migration of ethnically German agricultural labourers from eastern Germany and the corresponding influx of Polish farm workers into it. Weber was put in charge of the study and wrote a large part of
666-493: A degree in the subject. The classic brief definition of economics, set out by Lionel Robbins in 1932, is "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses". Without scarcity and alternative uses, there is no economic problem . Briefer yet is "the study of how people seek to satisfy needs and wants" and "the study of the financial aspects of human behavior". Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics , where
888-505: A hard science . The last path was the correlation of knowledge and social values ; the antipositivism and verstehen sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded this distinction. In this route, theory (description) and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject. The foundation of social sciences in the West implies conditioned relationships between progressive and traditional spheres of knowledge. In some contexts, such as
1110-611: A science of society based on historical materialism , becoming recognized as a founding figure of sociology posthumously as the term gained broader meaning. Around the start of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists, including Max Weber and Georg Simmel , developed sociological antipositivism. The field may be broadly recognized as an amalgam of three modes of social thought in particular: Durkheimian positivism and structural functionalism ; Marxist historical materialism and conflict theory ; and Weberian antipositivism and verstehen analysis. American sociology broadly arose on
1332-418: A wide number of fields . There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics , which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject. The word statistics , when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art." This should not be confused with the word statistic , referring to a quantity (such as mean or median ) calculated from a set of data, whose plural
1554-453: A "system of rules", as an "interpretive concept" to achieve justice, as an "authority" to mediate people's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction". However one likes to think of law, it is a completely central social institution. Legal policy incorporates the practical manifestation of thinking from almost every social science and the humanities. Laws are politics, because politicians create them. Law
1776-499: A biography of her late husband in 1926 which became one of the central historical accounts of his life. Weber's sociology treated social action as its central focus. He also interpreted it as having been an important part of the field's scientific nature. He divided social action into the four categories of affectional , traditional , instrumental, and value-rational action . In his methodology, he distinguished himself from Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx in that his primary focus
1998-533: A breakdown after his father died following an argument. Weber ceased teaching and travelled until the early 1900s. He recovered and wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . During the First World War , he initially supported Germany's war effort but became critical of it and supported democratisation. He also gave the lectures " Science as a Vocation " and " Politics as a Vocation ". After
2220-527: A cold and needed to cancel classes. By 14 June 1920, the cold had turned into influenza and he died of pneumonia in Munich. He had likely contracted the Spanish flu during the post-war pandemic and been subjected to insufficient medical care. Else von Richthofen, who was present by his deathbed alongside his wife, thought that he could have survived his illness if he had been given better treatment. His body
2442-583: A combination of their basis in natural law and the rising kulak class manipulating them for their own gain. His general interpretation of the Russian Revolution was that it lacked a clear leader and was not based on the Russian intellectuals' goals. Instead, it was the result of the peasants' emotional passions. In 1909, having become increasingly dissatisfied with the political conservatism and perceived lack of methodological discipline of
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#17327652895952664-444: A degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share in its aims and methods. Applied science is the use of existing scientific knowledge to achieve practical goals, like technology or inventions. Within natural science , disciplines that are basic science develop basic information to explain and perhaps predict phenomena in the natural world. Applied science is the use of scientific processes and knowledge as
2886-452: A degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share similar goals and methods. The history of the social sciences began in the Age of Enlightenment after 1651, which saw a revolution within natural philosophy , changing the basic framework by which individuals understood what was scientific. Social sciences came forth from the moral philosophy of the time and were influenced by
3108-420: A diversity of research methods, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, draw upon empirical techniques, and engage critical theory. Common modern methods include case studies, historical research , interviewing, participant observation , social network analysis , survey research, statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches. Since the late 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make
3330-661: A foundation to practical social research. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method . In 1896, he established the journal L'Année sociologique . Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a case study of suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. Karl Marx rejected Comte's positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish
3552-460: A generalization of systems science . The term originates from Bertalanffy 's General System Theory (GST) and is used in later efforts in other fields, such as the action theory of Talcott Parsons and the sociological autopoiesis of Niklas Luhmann . In this context the word systems is used to refer specifically to self-regulating systems, i.e. that are self-correcting through feedback . Self-regulating systems are found in nature, including
3774-450: A heavy science basis, or heavy social science basis to their degree. If they applied to read the BA . for example, but specialized in heavily science-based modules, then they will still generally be awarded the BA . Sociology is the systematic study of society, individuals' relationship to their societies, the consequences of difference, and other aspects of human social action . The meaning of
3996-918: A humanities-based subject is contested. In the United States the National Endowment for the Humanities includes history in its definition of humanities (as it does for applied linguistics). However, the National Research Council classifies history as a social science. The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history . The Social Science History Association , formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in social history . The social science of law, jurisprudence, in common parlance, means
4218-620: A law student, later studying at the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin and the University of Göttingen . He practiced law and worked as a lecturer simultaneously with his studies. In 1886, Weber passed the Referendar examination, which was comparable to the bar association examination in the British and U.S. legal systems. Throughout the late 1880s, he continued to study law and history. Under
4440-685: A lecture titled " Politics as a Vocation ", which commented on the subject of politics. It was prompted by the early Weimar Republic 's political turmoil and was requested by the Free Student Youth. Shortly before he left to join the delegation in Versailles on 13 May 1919, Weber used his connections with the German National People's Party 's deputies to meet with Erich Ludendorff . He spent several hours unsuccessfully trying to convince Ludendorff to surrender himself to
4662-608: A life of its own after World War II, influencing literary criticism and the Birmingham School establishment of cultural studies . Sociology evolved as an academic response to the challenges of modernity , such as industrialization , urbanization , secularization , and a perceived process of enveloping rationalization . The field generally concerns the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations , groups , communities and institutions , and includes
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#17327652895954884-478: A mutual contempt for one another, the former looking down on the latter as unscientific, the latter regarding the former as philistine . […] The difference comes down to the fact that social science really wants to be predictive, meaning that man is predictable, while the humanities say that he is not. The social science disciplines are branches of knowledge taught and researched at the college or university level. Social science disciplines are defined and recognized by
5106-517: A particular point in time), and a great deal of it—partly owing to the influence of Noam Chomsky —aims at formulating theories of the cognitive processing of language. However, language does not exist in a vacuum, or only in the brain, and approaches like contact linguistics, creole studies, discourse analysis , social interactional linguistics, and sociolinguistics explore language in its social context. Sociolinguistics often makes use of traditional quantitative analysis and statistics in investigating
5328-498: A people in detail, using biogenetic, archaeological, and linguistic data alongside direct observation of contemporary customs. In the 1990s and 2000s, calls for clarification of what constitutes a culture , of how an observer knows where his or her own culture ends and another begins, and other crucial topics in writing anthropology were heard. It is possible to view all human cultures as part of one large, evolving global culture. These dynamic relationships, between what can be observed on
5550-653: A personal chronology that his widow later destroyed. Its destruction was possibly caused by Marianne's fear that his work would have been discredited by the Nazis if his experience with mental illness were widely known. After recovering from his illness, Weber accepted a position as an associate editor of the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik ( Archive for Social Science and Social Policy ) in 1904, alongside his colleagues Edgar Jaffé and Werner Sombart. It facilitated his reintroduction to academia and became one of
5772-520: A previously vacant chair in political economy that he had been in consideration for since October 1917. Later, in Munich , he was appointed to Lujo Brentano 's chair in social science, economic history, and political economy. He accepted the appointment in order to be closer to his mistress, Else von Richthofen. Responding to student requests, he gave a series of lectures on economic history. The student transcriptions of it were later edited and published as
5994-608: A professor. His condition forced him seek an exemption from his teaching obligations, which he was granted in 1899. He spent time in the Heilanstalt für Nervenkranke Konstanzer Hof in 1898 and in a different sanatorium in Bad Urach in 1900. Weber also travelled to Corsica and Italy between 1899 and 1903 in order to alleviate his illness. He fully withdrew from teaching in 1903 and did not return to it until 1918. Weber thoroughly described his ordeal with mental illness in
6216-550: A psychological justification for it in the form of the cycle of reincarnation . A person's position in the caste order was thought to have been determined by one's actions in their past life. As a result, advancement of the soul and obeying the predetermined order were more important than seeking advancement in the material world, including economic advancement. Weber ended his research of society and religion in India by bringing in insights from his previous work on China to discuss
6438-505: A relationship and semi-engagement with Emmy Baumgarten, the daughter of Hermann Baumgarten. Afterwards, he began a relationship with his distant cousin Marianne Schnitger in 1893 and married her on 20 September of that year. The marriage gave Weber financial independence, allowing him to leave his parents' household. They had no children. Marianne was a feminist activist and an author in her own right. Academically, between
6660-529: A result of its creation of a worldly perspective. As a result, the inheritors of that system were entrapped in a socioeconomic iron cage. Weber's work in the field of sociology of religion began with the book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . It continued with the book series The Economic Ethics of the World Religions , which contained The Religion of China , The Religion of India , and Ancient Judaism . However, his work
6882-446: A rule that (unlike a rule of ethics ) is capable of enforcement through institutions. However, many laws are based on norms accepted by a community and thus have an ethical foundation. The study of law crosses the boundaries between the social sciences and humanities, depending on one's view of research into its objectives and effects. Law is not always enforceable, especially in the international relations context. It has been defined as
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7104-600: A scholar. Weber also began a sadomasochistic affair with Else von Richthofen the next year. Meanwhile, she was simultaneously conducting an affair with his brother, Alfred . Max Weber's affairs with Richtofen and Mina Tobler lasted until his death in 1920. After the war ended, Weber unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Weimar National Assembly in January 1919 as a member of the liberal German Democratic Party , which he had co-founded. He also advised
7326-409: A seminar that contained a discussion of Oswald Spengler 's The Decline of the West . Weber respected him and privately described him as having been "a very brilliant and scholarly dilettante". That seminar provoked some of his students, who knew Spengler personally, to suggest that he debate Spengler alongside other scholars. They met in the Munich town hall and debated for two days. The audience
7548-623: A separate trajectory, with little Marxist influence, an emphasis on rigorous experimental methodology, and a closer association with pragmatism and social psychology . In the 1920s, the Chicago school developed symbolic interactionism . Meanwhile, in the 1930s, the Frankfurt School pioneered the idea of critical theory , an interdisciplinary form of Marxist sociology drawing upon thinkers as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche . Critical theory would take on something of
7770-475: A sign of salvation were representative of ascetic Protestantism. Ascetic Protestants practiced inner-worldly asceticism and sought to change the world to better reflect their beliefs. The notion of a religious calling, when combined with predestination , meant that each individual had to take action to prove their salvation to themselves. However, the success that these religious principles created ultimately removed them as an influence on modern capitalism as
7992-459: A strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a BA underlines a majority of social science credits. This is not always necessarily the case however, and in many UK institutions students studying the BPsy , BSc , and BA follow the same curriculum as outlined by The British Psychological Society and have the same options of specialism open to them regardless of whether they choose a balance,
8214-424: A theological or ethical lens, he interpreted it through a social one. Furthermore, he incorporated Friedrich Nietzsche 's concept of Ressentiment into his discussion of the topic. However, Weber disagreed with Nietzsche's emotional discussion of the topic and his interpretation of it as having been a Jewish-derived expression of slave morality . Weber divided theodicy into three main types: Weber defined
8436-497: A theoretical structure. The development of social science subfields became very quantitative in methodology. The interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of scientific inquiry into human behaviour, social and environmental factors affecting it, made many of the natural sciences interested in some aspects of social science methodology. Examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social research of medicine , sociobiology , neuropsychology , bioeconomics and
8658-604: A universal God became more popular and desirable. In The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism , Weber focused on those aspects of Chinese society that were different from those of Western Europe, especially those aspects that contrasted with Puritanism . As part of that, he questioned why capitalism had not developed in China. He focused on the issues of Chinese urban development, Chinese patrimonialism and officialdom and Chinese religion and philosophy – primarily Confucianism and Taoism – as
8880-471: A value-free organisation. Ultimately, that prompted his resignation from it. Rationalisation was a central theme in Weber's scholarship. This theme was situated in the larger context of the relationship between psychological motivations, cultural values, cultural beliefs, and the structure of the society. Weber understood rationalisation as having resulted in increasing knowledge, growing impersonality, and
9102-487: A variety of other contributions to economic sociology , political sociology , and the sociology of religion . After his death, the rise of Weberian scholarship was slowed by the Weimar Republic 's political instability and the rise of Nazi Germany . In the post-war era, organised scholarship began to appear, led by Talcott Parsons . Other American and British scholars were also involved in its development. Over
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9324-411: Is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading"). Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, to elucidate principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research. The term does not yet have a well-established, precise meaning, but systems theory can reasonably be considered a specialization of systems thinking and
9546-433: Is a branch of biology concerning interactions among organisms and their biophysical environment , which includes both biotic and abiotic components. Topics of interest include the biodiversity , distribution, biomass , and populations of organisms, as well as cooperation and competition within and between species . Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms , the communities they make up, and
9768-423: Is a relatively autonomous term, encompassing the work of practitioners from various disciplines that share in its aims and methods. Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyse a vast breadth of social phenomena; from census survey data derived from millions of individuals, to the in-depth analysis of a single agent's social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on contemporary streets, to
9990-415: Is a schematic that represents a social action and considers the role of meaning in it. By its nature, it was an exaggeration of an empirical situation through its assumption that the involved individuals were rational, had complete situational knowledge, were completely aware of the situation, were completely aware of their actions, and made no errors. This was then contrasted with empirical reality, allowing
10212-499: Is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. The word "economics" is from the Ancient Greek οἶκος ( oikos , "family, household, estate") and νόμος ( nomos , "custom, law"), and hence means "household management" or "management of the state". An economist is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned
10434-604: Is a sub-discipline of both biology and chemistry, and from a reductionist point of view it is fundamental in biology. Biochemistry is closely related to molecular biology , cell biology , genetics , and physiology . Microbiology is the study of microorganisms , those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology , bacteriology , protistology , mycology , immunology and parasitology . Botany , also called plant science(s) , plant biology or phytology ,
10656-844: Is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on more mathematical topics of computing, and includes the theory of computation . It is difficult to circumscribe the theoretical areas precisely. The ACM 's (Association for Computing Theory) Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT) provides the following description: TCS covers a wide variety of topics including algorithms , data structures , computational complexity , parallel and distributed computation, probabilistic computation , quantum computation , automata theory , information theory , cryptography , program semantics and verification , machine learning , computational biology , computational economics , computational geometry , and computational number theory and algebra . Work in this field
10878-402: Is a very broad science that is rarely tackled as a whole, major block. Although some subfields encompass a natural science base and a social science application, others can be clearly distinguished as having little to do with the social sciences or having a lot to do with the social sciences. For example, biological psychology is considered a natural science with a social scientific application (as
11100-410: Is alternatively known as biology , and physical science is subdivided into branches: physics , chemistry , astronomy and Earth science . These branches of natural science may be further divided into more specialized branches (also known as fields). Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences. However,
11322-539: Is an academic and applied field involving the study of behaviour and mental processes. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness . The word psychology comes from the Ancient Greek ψυχή ( psyche , "soul" or "mind") and the suffix logy ("study"). Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about
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#173276528959511544-409: Is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis , collection, classification , manipulation, storage, retrieval , movement, dissemination , and protection of information . Practitioners within and outside the field study the application and the usage of knowledge in organizations in addition to the interaction between people, organizations, and any existing information systems with
11766-546: Is an area that is offered at most undergraduate institutions. The word anthropos ( ἄνθρωπος ) in Ancient Greek means "human being" or "person". Eric Wolf described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences". The goal of anthropology is to provide a holistic account of humans and human nature. This means that, though anthropologists generally specialize in only one sub-field, they always keep in mind
11988-449: Is clinical medicine), social and occupational psychology are, generally speaking, purely social sciences, whereas neuropsychology is a natural science that lacks application out of the scientific tradition entirely. In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology a student has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: BPsy indicates a balance between natural and social sciences, BSc indicates
12210-458: Is disagreement on whether the formal sciences actually constitute as a science. Methods of the formal sciences are, however, essential to the construction and testing of scientific models dealing with observable reality, and major advances in formal sciences have often enabled major advances in the empirical sciences . Logic (from Greek : λογική , logikḗ , 'possessed of reason , intellectual , dialectical , argumentative ')
12432-512: Is often distinguished by its emphasis on mathematical technique and rigor . Natural science is a branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena , based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation . Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatability of findings are used to try to ensure the validity of scientific advances. Natural science can be divided into two main branches: life science and physical science . Life science
12654-514: Is philosophy, because moral and ethical persuasions shape their ideas. Law tells many of history's stories, because statutes, case law and codifications build up over time. And law is economics, because any rule about contract , tort , property law , labour law , company law and many more can have long-lasting effects on the distribution of wealth. The noun law derives from the Old English lagu , meaning something laid down or fixed and
12876-399: Is the natural science that studies life such as microorganisms , plants , and animals including human beings , – including their physical structure , chemical processes , molecular interactions , physiological mechanisms , development , and evolution . Despite the complexity of the science, certain unifying concepts consolidate it into a single, coherent field. Biology recognizes
13098-711: Is the science of plant life and a branch of biology . Traditionally, botany has also included the study of fungi and algae by mycologists and phycologists respectively, with the study of these three groups of organisms remaining within the sphere of interest of the International Botanical Congress . Nowadays, botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 species of land plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants (including approximately 369,000 species of flowering plants ), and approximately 20,000 are bryophytes . Zoology ( / z oʊ ˈ ɒ l ə dʒ i / )
13320-467: Is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents , waves , and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the seafloor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of
13542-799: Is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure , embryology , evolution , classification , habits , and distribution of all animals , both living and extinct , and how they interact with their ecosystems. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion , i.e. " animal " and λόγος, logos , i.e. "knowledge, study". Some branches of zoology include: anthrozoology , arachnology , archaeozoology , cetology , embryology , entomology , helminthology , herpetology , histology , ichthyology , malacology , mammalogy , morphology , nematology , ornithology , palaeozoology , pathology , primatology , protozoology , taxonomy , and zoogeography . Ecology (from Greek : οἶκος , "house", or "environment"; -λογία , "study of")
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#173276528959513764-466: Is the continuous, systematic narrative and research into past human events as interpreted through historiographical paradigms or theories. When used as the name of a field of study , history refers to the study and interpretation of the record of humans , societies, institutions, and any topic that has changed over time. Traditionally, the study of history has been considered a part of the humanities . In modern academia , whether or not history remains
13986-473: Is the general analysis of nature , conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves. Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines , perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy . Over the last two millennia, physics was a part of natural philosophy along with chemistry , certain branches of mathematics , and biology , but during the Scientific Revolution in
14208-431: Is the holistic "science of man", a science of the totality of human existence. The discipline deals with the integration of different aspects of the social sciences, humanities , and human biology . In the twentieth century, academic disciplines have often been institutionally divided into three broad domains. Firstly, the natural sciences seek to derive general laws through reproducible and verifiable experiments. Secondly,
14430-436: Is the study of the collection, organization, and interpretation of data . It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments . A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of
14652-436: Is the systematic study of valid rules of inference , i.e. the relations that lead to the acceptance of one proposition (the conclusion ) on the basis of a set of other propositions ( premises ). More broadly, logic is the analysis and appraisal of arguments . It has traditionally included the classification of arguments; the systematic exposition of the logical forms ; the validity and soundness of deductive reasoning ;
14874-494: The Methodenstreit . In the first chapter of Economy and Society , he argued that only individuals "can be treated as agents in a course of subjectively understandable action". Despite the term's usage of "individualism", Weber did not interpret the individual as being the true source for sociological explanations. Instead, while only individuals could engage in intentional action, they were not necessarily separate from
15096-602: The Verein , he co-founded the German Sociological Association ( Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie ) and served as its first treasurer. Weber associated the society with the Verein and viewed the two organisations as not having been competitors. He unsuccessfully tried to steer the direction of the association. As part of that, Weber tried to make the Archiv its official journal. He resigned from his position as treasurer in 1912. That
15318-573: The General Economic History by Siegmund Hellmann [ de ] and Melchior Palyi [ de ] in 1923. In terms of politics, he opposed the pardoning of the Bavarian Minister-President Kurt Eisner 's murderer, Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley . In response to that, right-wing students disrupted his classes and protested in front of his home. In early 1920, Weber gave
15540-638: The Age of Revolutions , such as the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution . The social sciences developed from the sciences ( experimental and applied ), or the systematic knowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities . The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the grand encyclopedia of Diderot , with articles from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of
15762-548: The Allies . This debate also shifted to other subjects, such as who was culpable for Germany's defeat in the war. Weber thought that the German high command had failed, while Ludendorff regarded Weber as a democrat who was partially responsible for the revolution. Weber tried to disabuse him of that notion by expressing support for a democratic system with a strong executive. Since he held Ludendorff responsible for Germany's defeat in
15984-551: The Latin educare , or to facilitate the realization of an individual's potential and talents. It is an application of pedagogy , a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy , computer science , linguistics, neuroscience , sociology and anthropology. Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main sub fields: human geography and physical geography . The former focuses largely on
16206-558: The National-Social Association , which was a Christian socialist and nationalist political organisation. Weber was pessimistic regarding the association's ability to succeed, and it dissolved after winning a single seat in the Reichstag during the 1903 German federal election . In 1896, he accepted an appointment to a chair in economics and finance at Heidelberg University . There, Weber and his wife became
16428-472: The Near East , with the exemplary prophecies found in mainland Asia that focused more on reaching to the educated elites and enlightening them on the proper ways to live one's life, usually with little emphasis on hard work and the material world. It was those differences that prevented Western countries from following the paths of the earlier Chinese and Indian civilisations. His next work, Ancient Judaism ,
16650-409: The academic journals in which research is published, and the learned social science societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong. Social science fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. The following are widely-considered to be social sciences: Anthropology
16872-495: The built environment and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. This may involve cultural geography , transportation , health , military operations , and cities . The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation and life, soil, oceans , water and landforms are produced and interact (is also commonly regarded as an Earth Science ). Physical geography examines phenomena related to
17094-479: The cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity , and evolution as the engine that propels the creation and extinction of species . Living organisms are open systems that survive by transforming energy and decreasing their local entropy to maintain a stable and vital condition defined as homeostasis . Biochemistry , or biological chemistry , is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms . It
17316-418: The history and sociology of science . Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action and its implications and consequences. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a free-standing discipline of applied mathematics. Statistical methods were used confidently. In the contemporary period, Karl Popper and Talcott Parsons influenced
17538-531: The law , education , health , economy and trade , and art . Around the start of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism . A distinction is usually drawn between the social sciences and the humanities . Classicist Allan Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind (1987): Social science and humanities have
17760-411: The measurement of earth . As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is environmental geography . Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans. Other branches of geography include social geography , regional geography , and geomatics . Geographers attempt to understand
17982-408: The mental function and overt behaviour of individuals, while the other disciplines focus on creating descriptive generalizations about the functioning of social groups or situation-specific human behaviour. In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with
18204-553: The natural sciences as tools for understanding societies, and so define science in its stricter modern sense . Interpretivist or speculative social scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empirically falsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader sense. In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic , using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining both quantitative and qualitative research ). The term social research has also acquired
18426-491: The natural sciences as tools for understanding society, and so define science in its stricter modern sense . Interpretivist social scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empirically falsifiable theories. In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic , using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining both quantitative and qualitative research ). The term " social research " has also acquired
18648-551: The solid Earth , the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also include the study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite such as Mars or the Moon . Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences, including hydrology and the atmospheric sciences , and so is treated as one major aspect of integrated Earth system science and planetary science . Oceanography , or marine science ,
18870-451: The solid earth . Typically Earth scientists will use tools from physics , chemistry , biology , geography , chronology and mathematics to build a quantitative understanding of how the Earth system works, and how it evolved to its current state. Geology (from the Ancient Greek γῆ, gē ("earth") and -λoγία, -logia , ("study of", "discourse") ) is an Earth science concerned with
19092-485: The strength of inductive reasoning ; the study of formal proofs and inference (including paradoxes and fallacies ); and the study of syntax and semantics . Historically, logic has been studied in philosophy (since ancient times) and mathematics (since the mid-19th century). More recently, logic has been studied in cognitive science , which draws on computer science , linguistics , philosophy and psychology , among other disciplines. Information science
19314-733: The textile industry . Over time, Weber was affected by the marital and personality tensions between his father, who enjoyed material pleasures while overlooking religious and philanthropic causes, and his mother, a devout Calvinist and philanthropist. Weber entered the Doebbelinsche Privatschule in Charlottenburg in 1870, before attending the Kaiserin-Augusta-Gymnasium between 1872 and 1882. While in class, bored and unimpressed with his teachers, Weber secretly read all forty volumes by
19536-507: The 16th century, the natural sciences emerged as unique research programs in their own right. Certain research areas are interdisciplinary , such as biophysics and quantum chemistry , which means that the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined . In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries physicalism emerged as a major unifying feature of the philosophy of science as physics provides fundamental explanations for every observed natural phenomenon . New ideas in physics often explain
19758-843: The 19th and early 20th centuries. Ferdinand Saussure is considered the father of modern linguistics. Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. Fields and subfields of political science include political economy , political theory and philosophy , civics and comparative politics , theory of direct democracy , apolitical governance, participatory direct democracy, national systems, cross-national political analysis, political development, international relations, foreign policy , international law , politics, public administration, administrative behaviour, public law, judicial behaviour, and public policy . Political science also studies power in international relations and
19980-891: The Congress of Arts and Sciences that was held in connection with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis alongside his wife, Werner Sombart, Ernst Troeltsch, and other German scholars. Taking advantage of the fair, the Webers embarked on a trip that began and ended in New York City and lasted for almost three months. They travelled throughout the country, from New England to the Deep South . Different communities were visited, including German immigrant towns and African American communities. North Carolina
20202-857: The Earth in terms of physical and spatial relationships. The first geographers focused on the science of mapmaking and finding ways to precisely project the surface of the earth. In this sense, geography bridges some gaps between the natural sciences and social sciences. Historical geography is often taught in a college in a unified Department of Geography. Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline, closely related to Geographic Information Science , that seeks to understand humanity and its natural environment. The fields of urban planning , regional science , and planetology are closely related to geography. Practitioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as Geographic Information Systems , remote sensing , aerial photography , statistics , and global positioning systems . History
20424-939: The Emperor and the Pope" and "About the Roman Imperial Period from Constantine to the Migration Period". Two years later, also during Christmastime, he wrote another historical essay, "Observations on the Ethnic Character, Development, and History of the Indo-European Nations". These three essays were non-derivative contributions to the philosophy of history and were derived from Weber's reading of "numerous sources". In 1882, Weber enrolled in Heidelberg University as
20646-489: The Italian one, sociology slowly affirms itself and experiences the difficulty of affirming a strategic knowledge beyond philosophy and theology. Around the start of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various quarters. After the use of classical theories since the end of the scientific revolution, various fields substituted mathematics studies for experimental studies and examining equations to build
20868-520: The Jewish people as having been a pariah people, which meant that they were separated from the society that contained them. He examined the ancient Jewish people's origins and social structures. In his view, the Israelites maintained order through a covenant with the war god Yahweh and the practice of warrior asceticism. Under Solomon , that changed into a more organised and law-based society than
21090-625: The Middle Ages, Based on Southern European Documents , which he published in the same year. Two years later, Weber worked with the statistician August Meitzen to complete his habilitation , a post-doctoral thesis, titled Roman Agrarian History and Its Significance for Public and Private Law . Having thus become a Privatdozent , Weber joined the faculty of the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, lecturing, conducting research, and consulting for
21312-620: The National Assembly in its drafting of the Weimar Constitution . While he was campaigning for his party, Weber critiqued the left and complained about Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg who led the leftist Spartacus League . He regarded the German Revolution of 1918–1919 as having been responsible for Germany's inability to fight against Poland 's claims on its eastern territories. His opposition to
21534-621: The Puritans' religious calling to work caused them to systematically obtain wealth. They wished to prove that they were members of the elect who were destined to go to Heaven. Weber used Benjamin Franklin 's personal ethic, as described in his " Advice to a Young Tradesman ", as an example of the Protestant sects' economic ethic. Both rationalisation and the ideal type , concepts that later became central to his scholarship, appeared in
21756-545: The Spirit of Capitalism is Weber's most famous work. It was his first work on how religions affected economic systems' development. In the book, he put forward the thesis that the Protestant work ethic , which was derived from the theological ideas of the Reformation , influenced the development of capitalism. Weber was looking for elective affinities between the Protestant work ethic and capitalism. He argued that
21978-401: The abstract sound system of a particular language); however, work in areas like evolutionary linguistics (the study of the origins and evolution of language) and psycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in human language) cut across these divisions. The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguistics takes a predominantly synchronic perspective (focusing on language at
22200-459: The adjective legal comes from the Latin word lex . Linguistics investigates the cognitive and social aspects of human language. The field is divided into areas that focus on aspects of the linguistic signal, such as syntax (the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences), semantics (the study of meaning), morphology (the study of the structure of words), phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and phonology (the study of
22422-406: The aim of creating, replacing, improving, or understanding the information systems. Mathematics , in the broadest sense, is just a synonym of formal science; but traditionally mathematics means more specifically the coalition of four areas: arithmetic , algebra , geometry , and analysis , which are, to some degree, the study of quantity, structure, space, and change respectively. Statistics
22644-605: The areas in which Chinese development significantly differed from the European route. According to Weber, Confucianism and Puritanism were superficially similar, but were actually largely different from one another. Instead, they were mutually exclusive types of rational thought , each attempting to prescribe a way of life based on religious dogma. Notably, they both valued self-control and restraint and did not oppose accumulation of wealth. However, both of those qualities were simply means to different final goals. Confucianism's goal
22866-631: The belief in supernatural interference in the material world. Due to disenchantment, this gave way to rational and scientific explanations for events. According to the Sociology of Religion religious activity began with actions in the material world that people associated with vague spirits and gave magical meanings to. Over time, these magical beliefs became increasingly systemised and the spirits became gods that were represented by symbols. This increasing theological systemisation resulted in polytheism and organised religion . Increasing rationality caused
23088-851: The biological, linguistic, historic and cultural aspects of any problem. Since anthropology arose as a science in Western societies that were complex and industrial, a major trend within anthropology has been a methodological drive to study peoples in societies with more simple social organization, sometimes called "primitive" in anthropological literature, but without any connotation of "inferior". Today, anthropologists use terms such as "less complex" societies or refer to specific modes of subsistence or production , such as "pastoralist" or "forager" or "horticulturalist" to refer to humans living in non-industrial, non-Western cultures, such people or folk ( ethnos ) remaining of great interest within anthropology. The quest for holism leads most anthropologists to study
23310-404: The branches of science are summarized by the table Metascience refers to or includes a field of science that is about science itself. OpenAlex and Scholia can be used to visualize and explore scientific fields and research topics. Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber ( / ˈ v eɪ b ər / ; German: [maks ˈveːbɐ] ; 21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920)
23532-466: The branches of science that are concerned with formal systems , such as logic , mathematics , theoretical computer science , information theory , systems theory , decision theory , statistics . Unlike other branches, the formal sciences are not concerned with the validity of theories based on observations in the real world ( empirical knowledge ), but rather with the properties of formal systems based on definitions and rules . Hence there
23754-497: The calling quickly gave to the modern entrepreneur a fabulously clear conscience – and also industrious workers; he gave to his employees as the wages of their ascetic devotion to the calling and of co-operation in his ruthless exploitation of them through capitalism the prospect of eternal salvation. —Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism , 1905. The Protestant Ethic and
23976-545: The case needed to be dealt with by bourgeois reformers who were not "derailed". A year later, also in spring, he again holidayed in Ascona. The community contained several different expressions of the then-contemporaneous radical political and lifestyle reform movements. They included naturism , free love , and Western esotericism , among others. Weber was critical of the anarchist and erotic movements in Ascona, as he viewed their fusion as having been politically absurd. After
24198-502: The case, as that is determined by those value ideas in the light of which we look at "culture" in each individual case. —Max Weber in "The 'Objectivity' of Knowledge in Social Science and Social Policy", 1904. In terms of methodology, Weber was primarily concerned with the question of objectivity and subjectivity , distinguishing social action from social behavior and noting that social action must be understood through
24420-474: The central figures in the eponymous Weber Circle , which included Georg Jellinek , Ernst Troeltsch , and Werner Sombart . Younger scholars, such as György Lukács and Robert Michels , also joined it. In 1897, Weber had a severe quarrel with his father. Weber Sr. died two months later, leaving the argument unresolved. Afterwards, Weber became increasingly prone to depression, nervousness, and insomnia , which made it difficult for him to fulfill his duties as
24642-485: The children in Heidelberg or move closer to Geheeb's Odenwaldschule ("Odenwald School") so that he could be alone in Munich with his mistress, Else von Richthofen . He left the decision to Marianne, but she said that only he could make the decision to leave for himself. While this was occurring, Weber began to believe that own life had reached its end. On 4 June 1920, Weber's students were informed that he had
24864-423: The choosing of values. With regards to economics, he argued that productivity was not a useful scientific concept, as it could impede the proper evaluation of economic phenomena. The principle of methodological individualism, which holds that social scientists should seek to understand collectivities solely as the result of individual people's actions, can be traced to Weber. The term "methodological individualism"
25086-486: The classification of legitimate authority into three ideal types – rational-legal , traditional , and charismatic – of which rational-legal was the dominant one in the modern world. In these works, Weber described what he saw as society's movement towards rationalisation. Bureaucratic states justified themselves through their own rationality and were supported by expert knowledge which made them rational. Rationalisation could also be seen in
25308-431: The classroom. He first articulated it in his writings on scientific philosophy, including "The 'Objectivity' of Knowledge in Social Science and Social Policy" and "Science as a Vocation". Weber was influenced by Heinrich Rickert 's concept of value-relevance. Rickert used it to relate historical objects to values while maintaining objectivity through explicitly defined conceptual distinctions. However, Weber disagreed with
25530-504: The collective group. He interpreted methodological individualism as having had close proximity to verstehende ("interpretive") sociology, as actions could be interpreted subjectively. Similarly, it was also related to ideal types in that it involved discussions of abstract and rational models of human behaviour. The ideal type was a central concept in Weber's methodology. He interpreted them as having been indispensable for it. Due their taking of meaning into account, they are unique to
25752-512: The completion of his dissertation and habilitation, Weber took an interest in contemporary social policy . He joined the Verein für Socialpolitik ("Association for Social Policy") in 1888. The Verein was an organisation of reformist thinkers who were generally members of the historical school of economics . He also involved himself in politics, participating in the founding of the left-leaning Evangelical Social Congress in 1890. It applied
25974-413: The composition, behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter , as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions . It is a physical science which studies various substances , atoms , molecules , and matter (especially carbon based). Example sub-disciplines of chemistry include: biochemistry , the study of substances found in biological organisms ; physical chemistry ,
26196-486: The context of wider debates about social scientific methodology. The first of which was the Methodenstreit ("method dispute"). His position in it was close to historicism , as he thought that social actions were heavily tied to particular historical contexts. Furthermore, analysing social actions required an understanding of the relevant individuals' subjective motivations. Therefore, his methodology emphasised
26418-414: The course of the twentieth century, Weber's reputation rose due to the publication of translations of his works and scholarly interpretations of his life and works. As a result of these works, he began to be regarded as a founding father of sociology, alongside Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim , and one of the central figures in the development of the social sciences more generally. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber
26640-414: The creation of capitalism became unnecessary and it became able to propagate itself without them. What Weber depicted was not only the secularisation of Western culture , but also and especially the development of modern societies from the viewpoint of rationalisation. The new structures of society were marked by the differentiation of the two functionally intermeshing systems that had taken shape around
26862-421: The decisions they do. Decision theory is closely related to the field of game theory and is an interdisciplinary topic, studied by economists, statisticians, psychologists, biologists, political and other social scientists, philosophers, and computer. Empirical applications of this rich theory are usually done with the help of statistical and econometric methods. Theoretical computer science ( TCS )
27084-580: The descriptive understanding of the social realm. He proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, an epistemological approach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy [1830–1842] and A General View of Positivism (1844). Though Comte is generally regarded as the "Father of Sociology", the discipline was formally established by another French thinker, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as
27306-402: The development of Western monotheism, which resulted in groups focusing on specific gods for political and economic purposes, creating a universal religion. According to Weber, Protestantism encouraged an increased pursuit of rationality that led to the devaluing of itself. In turn, this devaluation led to nihilism through its destruction of unifying values. The development of the concept of
27528-402: The development of capitalism in the West and the absence of it in China. In The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism , Weber dealt with the structure of Indian society, with the orthodox doctrines of Hinduism and the heterodox doctrines of Buddhism , with modifications brought by the influence of popular religiosity and finally with the impact of religious beliefs on
27750-601: The development of the computer in the latter half of the 20th century, breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved. Space science is the study of everything in outer space. This has sometimes been called astronomy , but recently astronomy has come to be regarded as a division of broader space science, which has grown to include other related fields, such as studying issues related to space travel and space exploration (including space medicine ), space archaeology and science performed in outer space (see space research ). Life science , also known as biology ,
27972-496: The discipline is as a cluster of sub-fields that examine different dimensions of society. For example, social stratification studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in population size or type; criminology examines criminal behaviour and deviance; and political sociology studies the interaction between society and state. Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of enquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Sociologists use
28194-425: The discipline useful for purposes beyond the academy. The results of sociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as evaluation research , methodological assessment, and public sociology . In the early 1970s, women sociologists began to question sociological paradigms and
28416-487: The early part of the 20th century, economics has focused largely on measurable quantities, employing both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Quantitative models, however, can be traced as far back as the physiocratic school . Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recent decades to other social situations such as politics , law, psychology , history , religion , marriage and family life, and other social interactions. The expanding domain of economics in
28638-430: The economy, with the development of a highly rational and calculating capitalism. Capitalism's rationality related to its basis in calculation, which separated it from alternative forms of economic organisation. State bureaucracy and capitalism served as the twin pillars of the developing rational society. These changes eliminated the preexisting traditions that relied on the trades. Weber also saw rationalisation as one of
28860-439: The enhanced control of social and material life. He was ambivalent towards rationalisation. Weber admitted that it was responsible for many advances, particularly freeing humans from traditional, restrictive, and illogical social guidelines. However, he also criticised it for dehumanising individuals as "cogs in the machine" and curtailing their freedom, trapping them in the iron cage of rationality and bureaucracy. His studies of
29082-402: The event's romantic atmosphere. After he spoke at the first one, he became involved in the planning for the second one, as Diederichs thought that the conferences needed someone who could serve as an oppositional figure. In this capacity, he argued against the political romanticism that Max Maurenbrecher , a former theologian, espoused. Weber also opposed what he saw as the excessive rhetoric of
29304-540: The examination of the organization and development of human social life. The sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes . In the terms of sociologists Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann , social scientists seek an understanding of the Social Construction of Reality . Most sociologists work in one or more subfields . One useful way to describe
29526-615: The final report, which generated considerable attention and controversy, marking the beginning of his renown as a social scientist. From 1893 to 1899, Weber was a member of the Pan-German League ( Alldeutscher Verband ), an organisation that campaigned against the influx of Polish workers. The degree of his support for the Germanisation of Poles and similar nationalist policies continues to be debated by scholars. Weber and his wife moved to Freiburg in 1894, where he
29748-419: The frequency of features, while some disciplines, like contact linguistics, focus on qualitative analysis. While certain areas of linguistics can thus be understood as clearly falling within the social sciences, other areas, like acoustic phonetics and neurolinguistics , draw on the natural sciences. Linguistics draws only secondarily on the humanities, which played a rather greater role in linguistic inquiry in
29970-406: The fundamental mechanisms of other sciences, while opening to new research areas in mathematics and philosophy. Chemistry (the etymology of the word has been much disputed) is the science of matter and the changes it undergoes. The science of matter is also addressed by physics , but while physics takes a more general and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned by
30192-441: The furtherance of the social sciences. Researchers continue to search for a unified consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinement to connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories that, with considerable success, continue to provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks; for more, see consilience . The social sciences will for the foreseeable future be composed of different zones in
30414-509: The general laws derived in physics or chemistry, or they may explain individual cases through more general principles, as in many fields of psychology. Anthropology (like some fields of history) does not easily fit into one of these categories, and different branches of anthropology draw on one or more of these domains. Within the United States, anthropology is divided into four sub-fields: archaeology, physical or biological anthropology , anthropological linguistics , and cultural anthropology . It
30636-443: The geosciences or the Earth sciences ) is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth . It is arguably a special case in planetary science , the Earth being the only known life -bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere , hydrosphere , lithosphere , and biosphere , as well as
30858-543: The government. Weber's years as a university student were dotted with several periods of military service, the longest of which lasted between October 1883 and September 1884. During this time, he was in Strasbourg and attended classes at the University of Strasbourg that his uncle, the historian Hermann Baumgarten , taught. Weber befriended Baumgarten and he influenced Weber's growing liberalism and criticism of Otto von Bismarck 's domination of German politics. He
31080-530: The ground, as opposed to what can be observed by compiling many local observations remain fundamental in any kind of anthropology, whether cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological. Communication studies deals with processes of human communication , commonly defined as the sharing of symbols to create meaning . The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies also examine how messages are interpreted through
31302-567: The human mind would, "objectively" speaking, be less law-like, but for the following two reasons: (1) knowledge of social laws does not constitute knowledge of social reality, but is only one of the various tools that our intellect needs for that [latter] purpose; (2) knowledge of cultural occurrences is only conceivable if it takes as its point of departure the significance that the reality of life, with its always individual character, has for us in certain particular respects. No law can reveal to us in what sense and in what respects this will be
31524-472: The humanities generally study local traditions, through their history, literature, music, and arts, with an emphasis on understanding particular individuals, events, or eras. Finally, the social sciences have generally attempted to develop scientific methods to understand social phenomena in a generalizable way, though usually with methods distinct from those of the natural sciences. The anthropological social sciences often develop nuanced descriptions rather than
31746-522: The humanities. As a social science, the discipline often overlaps with sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, economics, and public policy, among others. From a humanities perspective, communication is concerned with rhetoric and persuasion (traditional graduate programs in communication studies trace their history to the rhetoricians of Ancient Greece ). The field applies to outside disciplines as well, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, and information science. Economics
31968-481: The idea that a scholar could maintain objectivity while ascribing to a hierarchy of values in the way that Rickert did, however. His argument regarding value-freedom was connected to his involvement in the Werturteilsstreit . As part of it, he argued in favour of the idea that the social sciences needed to be value-free. During it, he unsuccessfully tried to turn the German Sociological Association into
32190-430: The importance of societal class within religion by examining the difference between the theodicies of fortune and misfortune and to what class structures they apply. The theodicy of fortune related to the desire of those who were successful to prove that they deserved it. They were also prone to not being satisfied with what they already had and wished to avoid the notion that they were illegitimate or sinful. Those without
32412-412: The importance of subjectivity in the social sciences made the creation of fool-proof, universal laws much more difficult than in the natural sciences and that the amount of objective knowledge that social sciences were able to create was limited. Overall, he supported objective science as a goal worth striving for but noted that it was ultimately an unreachable goal. Weber's methodology was developed in
32634-757: The interaction of mental processes and behaviour, and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced. Many people associate psychology with clinical psychology , which focuses on assessment and treatment of problems in living and psychopathology. In reality, psychology has myriad specialties including social psychology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , educational psychology , industrial-organizational psychology , mathematical psychology , neuropsychology, and quantitative analysis of behaviour. Psychology
32856-407: The intermediatory steps of polytheism , pantheism , and monotheism . According to him, this was the result of growing economic stability, which allowed for professionalisation and the evolution of an increasingly sophisticated priesthood. As societies grew more complex and encompassed different groups, a hierarchy of gods developed. Meanwhile, as their power became more centralised, the concept of
33078-591: The investigation of ancient historical documents. The methods originally rooted in classical sociology and statistical mathematics have formed the basis for research in other disciplines, such as political science, media studies, and marketing and market research . Branches of science The branches of science , also referred to as sciences , scientific fields or scientific disciplines , are commonly divided into three major groups: Scientific knowledge must be based on observable phenomena and must be capable of being verified by other researchers working under
33300-560: The invisibility of women in sociological studies, analysis, and courses. In 1969, feminist sociologists challenged the discipline's androcentrism at the American Sociological Association's annual conference. This led to the founding of the organization Sociologists for Women in Society, and, eventually, a new sociology journal, Gender & Society . Today, the sociology of gender is considered to be one of
33522-437: The main factors that set the West apart from the rest of the world. He also applied rationalisation to music in his The Rational and Social Foundations of Music . In writing it, he was influenced by his affair with the pianist Mina Tobler [ de ] and a sense that Western music was the only type that had become harmonic, while other cultures' music was more intense and focused on hearing. Weber argued that music
33744-433: The means to achieve a particularly practical or useful result. This includes a broad range of applied science-related fields, including agricultural science , engineering and medicine . Applied science can also apply formal science , such as statistics and probability theory , as in epidemiology . Genetic epidemiology is an applied science applying both biological and statistical methods. The relationships between
33966-405: The most prominent social science journals as a result of his efforts. Weber published some of his most seminal works in this journal, including his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism , which became his most famous work and laid the foundations for his later research on the impact of religion on the development of economic systems. Also in 1904, he was invited to participate in
34188-451: The most prominent sub-fields in the discipline. New sociological sub-fields continue to appear — such as community studies , computational sociology , environmental sociology , network analysis, actor-network theory , gender studies, and a growing list, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature. Additional applied or interdisciplinary fields related to the social sciences or are applied social sciences include: The origin of
34410-448: The non-living components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production , pedogenesis , nutrient cycling , and niche construction , regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. Organisms with specific life history traits sustain these processes. Social science is the branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term
34632-424: The old confederation was. Religiously, the priests replaced the previous charismatic religious leaders. Weber thought that Elijah was the first prophet to have risen from the shepherds. Elijah promulgated political prophecies and opposed the monarchy . Weber used the concept of theodicy in his interpretation of theology and religion throughout his corpus. This involved both his scholarly and personal interests in
34854-418: The oppositional gesinnungsethik and verantwortungsethik [ de ] (the "ethic of ultimate ends" and the "ethic of responsibility"). An adherent of the verantwortungsethik justified their actions based on their consequences. Meanwhile, an adherent of the gesinnungsethik justified their actions based on their ideals. While Weber thought that both of them would ideally be present in
35076-756: The organisational cores of the capitalist enterprise and the bureaucratic state apparatus. Weber understood this process as the institutionalisation of purposive-rational economic and administrative action. To the degree that everyday life was affected by this cultural and societal rationalisation, traditional forms of life – which in the early modern period were differentiated primarily according to one's trade – were dissolved. — Jürgen Habermas in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures , 1990. Weber continued his investigation into this matter in later works, notably in his studies on bureaucracy and on
35298-465: The origin of modern capitalism was in the religious ideas of the Reformation. According to him, certain types of Protestantism – notably Calvinism – were supportive of the rational pursuit of economic gain and the worldly activities that were dedicated to it, seeing those activities as having been endowed with moral and spiritual significance. The spirit of capitalism
35520-463: The outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Weber volunteered for service and was appointed as a reserve officer in charge of organising the army hospitals in Heidelberg, a role he fulfilled until the end of 1915. His views on the war and the expansion of the German Empire changed over the course of the conflict. Early on, he supported the German war effort , with some hesitation, viewing
35742-522: The pedagogue Paul Geheeb ended his affair with her. Weber thought positively of it, as he thought that her suicide was justified and that suicide in general could be an honourable act. Weber and his wife took in Lili's four children and planned to raise them. He was uncomfortable with his newfound role as a father figure, but he thought that Marianne was fulfilled as a woman by this event. She later formally adopted them in 1928. Weber wished for her to stay with
35964-547: The philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey , the jurist Levin Goldschmidt , and the historian Theodor Mommsen . The young Weber and his brother Alfred , who also became a sociologist, passed their formative years in this intellectual atmosphere. Meanwhile, Fallenstein was partly descended from the French Huguenot Souchay family [ de ] , which had obtained wealth through international commerce and
36186-483: The physiological systems of the human body, in local and global ecosystems, and climate. Decision theory (or the theory of choice not to be confused with choice theory ) is the study of an agent's choices. Decision theory can be broken into two branches: normative decision theory, which analyzes the outcomes of decisions or determines the optimal decisions given constraints and assumptions, and descriptive decision theory, which analyzes how agents actually make
36408-540: The pianist Mina Tobler [ de ] . After a failed attempt to court Richthofen, Weber began an affair with Tobler in 1911. Later, during the spring of 1913, Weber holidayed in the Monte Verità community in Ascona , Switzerland . While holidaying, he was advising Frieda Gross in her custody battle for her children. He opposed Erich Mühsam 's involvement because Mühsam was an anarchist . Weber argued that
36630-474: The political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Communication is institutionalized under many different names at different universities, including communication , communication studies , speech communication , rhetorical studies , communication science , media studies , communication arts , mass communication , media ecology , and communication and media science . Communication studies integrate aspects of both social sciences and
36852-447: The religions of China , India , and ancient Judaism . In terms of government, Weber argued that states were defined by their monopoly on violence and categorised social authority into three distinct forms : charismatic , traditional , and rational-legal . He was also a key proponent of methodological antipositivism , arguing for the study of social action through interpretive rather than purely empiricist methods. Weber made
37074-416: The research of, and sometimes distinct in approach toward, the field. The term "social science" may refer either to the specific sciences of society established by thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, or more generally to all disciplines outside of "noble science" and arts . By the late 19th century, the academic social sciences were constituted of five fields: jurisprudence and amendment of
37296-775: The researcher to better understand it. However, ideal types are not direct representations of reality and Weber warned against interpreting them as such. He placed no limits on what could be analysed through the use of ideal types. Since, for him, rational methodology and science were synonymous with one another, ideal types were constructed rationally. Weber believed that social scientists needed to avoid making value-judgements. Instead, he wanted social scientific research to be value-free. This would give them objectivity, but it needed to be combined with an acknowledgement that their research connected with values in different ways. As part of his support for value-freedom, Weber opposed both instructors and students promoting their political views in
37518-557: The revolution may have prevented Friedrich Ebert , the new president of Germany and a member of the Social Democratic Party , from appointing him as a minister or ambassador. Weber was also critical of the Treaty of Versailles , which he believed unjustly assigned war guilt to Germany . Instead, he believed that many countries were guilty of starting it, not just Germany. In making this case, Weber argued that Russia
37740-514: The revolution's ability to succeed, Weber supported the establishment of a liberal democracy in Russia. He wrote two essays on it that were published in the Archiv . Weber interpreted the revolution as having been the result of the peasants' desire for land. He discussed the role of the obshchina , rural peasant communities, in Russian political debates. According to Weber, they were difficult for liberal agrarian reformers to abolish due to
37962-472: The sacraments or actions that proved their right to possess greater wealth. In political sociology , one of Weber's most influential contributions is his lecture " Politics as a Vocation ", in which he defined the state as an entity that was " based on the legitimate use of force ". Accordingly, Weber proposed that politics is the sharing of state power between various groups, whereas political leaders were those who wielded this power. He divided action into
38184-488: The same conditions. This verifiability may well vary even within a scientific discipline. Natural, social, and formal science make up the fundamental sciences , which form the basis of interdisciplinarity - and applied sciences such as engineering and medicine . Specialized scientific disciplines that exist in multiple categories may include parts of other scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminologies and expertises . The formal sciences are
38406-539: The secular ethic of Indian society. In Weber's view, Hinduism in India, like Confucianism in China, was a barrier for capitalism. The Indian caste system , which developed in post-Classical India and served as the source for legitimate social interactions, served as a key part of that. Both Hinduism and the Brahmins ' high status upheld the caste system. The Brahmins used their monopoly on education and theological authority to maintain their position, while Hinduism created
38628-584: The similarities of the Asian belief systems. He noted that these religions' believers used otherworldly mystical experiences to interpret the meaning of life. The social world was fundamentally divided between the educated elite who followed the guidance of a prophet or wise man and the uneducated masses whose beliefs are centered on magic. In Asia, there were no messianic prophecies to give both educated and uneducated followers meaning in their regular lives. Weber juxtaposed such Messianic prophecies, notably from
38850-417: The social sciences has been described as economic imperialism. Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization ). To educate means 'to draw out', from
39072-464: The social sciences is also reflected in other specialized encyclopedias. The term "social science" was coined in French by Mirabeau in 1767, before becoming a distinct conceptual field in the nineteenth century. Social science was influenced by positivism, focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding the negative; metaphysical speculation was avoided. Auguste Comte used
39294-425: The social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents, interviews, and official records, as well as secondary sources such as scholarly articles , are used in building and testing theories. Empirical methods include survey research, statistical analysis or econometrics , case studies , experiments, and model building. Psychology
39516-442: The social sciences. The term "ideal type" was derived from Georg Jellinek 's use of it. Weber outlined it in " The 'Objectivity' of Knowledge in Social Science and Social Policy " and the first chapter of Economy and Society . The ideal types' three functions are the formulation of terminology, classifications, and hypotheses. The latter task was of the greatest importance of the three. In terms of their construction, an ideal type
39738-416: The social sciences. It originated with a debate in the Verein für Socialpolitik between the supporters of the idea that ethics was an important consideration in the field of economics and those who opposed it. Weber's position was that the social sciences should strive to be value-free . In his view, scholars and students needed to avoid promoting political values in the classroom. Science had no part in
39960-417: The study of chemical processes using physical concepts such as thermodynamics and quantum mechanics ; and analytical chemistry , the analysis of material samples to gain an understanding of their chemical composition and structure . Many more specialized disciplines have emerged in recent years, e.g. neurochemistry the chemical study of the nervous system . Earth science (also known as geoscience ,
40182-444: The subject began with The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . In it, he argued that Protestantism 's – particularly Calvinism 's – redefinition of the connection between work and piety caused a shift towards rational efforts that were aimed at achieving economic gain. In Protestantism, piety towards God was expressed through one's secular vocation. The religious principles that influenced
40404-415: The subject. It was central to his conception of humanity, which he interpreted as having been connected with finding meaning. Theodicy was a popular subject of study amongst German scholars who sought to determine how a world created by an omnibenevolent and omnipotent being can contain suffering. As part of this tradition, Weber was careful in his study of the subject. Rather than interpreting it through
40626-417: The subjective relationships between individuals. According to him, the study of social action through interpretive means or verstehen ("to understand") needed to be based upon understanding the subjective meaning and purpose that individuals attached to their actions. Determining an individual's interpretation of their actions required either empathically or rationally derived evidence. Weber noted that
40848-522: The survey can be traced back at least as early as the Domesday Book in 1086, while some scholars pinpoint the origin of demography to 1663 with the publication of John Graunt 's Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality . Social research began most intentionally, however, with the positivist philosophy of science in the 19th century. In contemporary usage, "social research"
41070-517: The term science sociale to describe the field, taken from the ideas of Charles Fourier ; Comte also referred to the field as social physics . Following this period, five paths of development sprang forth in the social sciences, influenced by Comte in other fields. One route that was taken was the rise of social research. Large statistical surveys were undertaken in various parts of the United States and Europe . Another route undertaken
41292-497: The term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena. There is a difference between physical science and physics. Physics (from Ancient Greek : φύσις , romanized : physis , lit. 'nature') is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime , along with related concepts such as energy and force . More broadly, it
41514-512: The then-recent Russian Revolution of 1905 . He learned the Russian language in a few months, subscribed to Russian newspapers, and discussed Russian political and social affairs with the Russian émigré community in Heidelberg . He was personally popular in that community and twice entertained the idea of a trip to Russia . His schedule prevented it, however. While he was sceptical of
41736-502: The theory of great powers and superpowers . Political science is methodologically diverse, although recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the use of the scientific method , that is, the proliferation of formal-deductive model building and quantitative hypothesis testing. Approaches to the discipline include rational choice , classical political philosophy, interpretivism , structuralism , and behaviouralism , realism , pluralism, and institutionalism . Political science, as one of
41958-418: The thesis. Rationalisation caused the West to be trapped in the stahlhartes Gehäuse ("iron cage" or "steel-hard casing") that was the modern capitalist economic order. Meanwhile, ideal types were representative figures, or case studies, that represented concepts. Christian religious devotion was historically accompanied by the rejection of mundane affairs, including economic pursuit. Weber argued that
42180-723: The tutelage of Levin Goldschmidt and Rudolf von Gneist , Weber earned his law doctorate in 1889 by writing a dissertation on legal history titled Development of the Principle of Joint Liability and a Separate Fund of the General Partnership out of the Household Communities and Commercial Associations in Italian Cities . It was a part of a longer work, On the History of Commercial Partnerships in
42402-423: The unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and macroeconomics , where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole. Another division of the subject distinguishes positive economics, which seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from normative economics , which orders choices and actions by some criterion; such orderings necessarily involve subjective value judgments. Since
42624-496: The use of comparative historical analysis . As such, he was more interested in explaining how a certain outcome was the result of various historical processes than in predicting those processes' outcome in the future. The second debate that shaped Weber's perspective on methodology was the Werturteilsstreit ("value-judgement dispute"). This debate was held between 1909 and 1914 on the subject of value-judgements in
42846-508: The war and having sent many young Germans to die on the battlefield, Weber thought that he should surrender himself and become a political martyr. However, Ludendorff was not willing to do so and instead wanted to live off of his pension. Frustrated with politics, Weber resumed teaching, first at the University of Vienna in 1918, then at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1919. In Vienna , Weber filled
43068-504: The war as having been necessary to fulfill Germany's duty as a leading state power. In time, however, Weber became one of the most prominent critics of both German expansionism and the Kaiser's war policies . He publicly criticised Germany's potential annexation of Belgium and unrestricted submarine warfare , later supporting calls for constitutional reform, democratisation, and universal suffrage . His younger brother Karl, an architect,
43290-558: The war, Weber co-founded the German Democratic Party , unsuccessfully ran for office, and advised the drafting of the Weimar Constitution . Becoming frustrated with politics, he resumed teaching in Vienna and Munich . He died of pneumonia in 1920 at the age of 56, possibly as a result of the post-war Spanish flu pandemic. A book, Economy and Society , was left unfinished. One of Weber's main intellectual concerns
43512-474: The word comes from the suffix -logy , which means "study of", derived from Ancient Greek, and the stem soci- , which is from the Latin word socius , meaning "companion", or society in general. Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term sociology to describe a way to apply natural science principles and techniques to the social world in 1838. Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through
43734-400: The work ethic believed in the theodicy of misfortune, believing wealth and happiness were granted in the afterlife. Another example of how this belief of religious theodicy influenced class was that those of lower economic status tended towards deep religiousness and faith as a way to comfort themselves and provide hope for a more prosperous future, while those of higher economic status preferred
43956-460: The world ocean and understanding of processes within it: biology , chemistry , geology , meteorology , and physics as well as geography . Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 17th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries. After
44178-525: The writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . Goethe later exerted an important influence on his thought and methodology. Before entering university, he read many other classical works, including those by the philosopher Immanuel Kant . For Christmas in 1877, a thirteen-year-old Weber gifted his parents two historical essays, entitled "About the Course of German History, with Special Reference to the Positions of
44400-503: The youth groups and nationalists at Lauenstein, instead supporting German democratisation. For Weber and the younger participants, the conferences' romantic intent was irrelevant to the determination of Germany's future. In November, shortly after the second conference, Weber was invited by the Free Student Youth, a student organisation, to give a lecture in Munich, resulting in " Science as a Vocation ". In it, he argued that an inner calling and specialisation were necessary for one to become
44622-428: Was "a cultured status position", while Puritanism's goal was to create individuals who were "tools of God". According to Weber, the Puritans sought rational control of the world and rejected its irrationality while Confucians sought rational acceptance of that state of affairs. Therefore, he stated that it was the difference in social attitudes and mentality, shaped by the respective dominant religions, that contributed to
44844-702: Was a German sociologist , historian, jurist , and political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more generally. His ideas continue to influence social theory and research . Born in Erfurt in 1864, Weber studied law and history in Berlin , Göttingen , and Heidelberg . After earning his doctorate in law in 1889 and habilitation in 1891, he taught in Berlin, Freiburg , and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Schnitger two years later. In 1897, he had
45066-773: Was a member of the Burschenschaft Allemannia Heidelberg [ de ] , a Studentenverbindung ("student association"), and heavily drank beer and engaged in academic fencing during his first few years in university. As a result of the latter, he obtained several duelling scars on the left side of his face. His mother was displeased by his behaviour and slapped him after he came home when his third semester ended in 1883. However, Weber matured, increasingly supported his mother in family arguments, and grew estranged from his father. From 1887 until her declining mental health caused him to break off their relationship five years later, Weber had
45288-473: Was also visited, as some of Weber's relatives in the Fallenstein family had settled there. Weber used the trip to learn more about America's social, economic, and theological conditions and how they related to his thesis. Afterwards, he felt that he was unable to resume regular teaching and remained a private scholar, helped by an inheritance in 1907. Shortly after returning, Weber's attention shifted to
45510-572: Was an attempt to prove this theory. In Ancient Judaism , Weber attempted to explain the factors that resulted in the early differences between Eastern and Western religiosity . He contrasted the innerworldly asceticism developed by Western Christianity with the mystical contemplation that developed in India. Weber noted that some aspects of Christianity sought to conquer and change the world, rather than withdraw from its imperfections. This fundamental characteristic of Christianity originally stemmed from ancient Jewish prophecy . Weber classified
45732-521: Was appointed professor of economics at the University of Freiburg . During his tenure there, in 1895, he gave a provocative lecture titled "The Nation State and Economic Policy". In it, he criticised Polish immigration and argued that the Junkers were encouraging Slavic immigration to serve their economic interests over those of the German nation. It influenced the politician Friedrich Naumann to create
45954-510: Was becoming increasingly rational. In his view, that resulted from new developments in musical instrument construction and simultaneous socio-economic shifts of the different instruments' players. The process of disenchantment caused the world to become more explained and less mystical, moving from polytheistic religions to monotheistic ones and finally to the Godless science of modernity . Older explanations of why events occurred relied on
46176-660: Was born on 21 April 1864 in Erfurt , Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia, but his family moved to Berlin in 1869. He was the oldest of Max Weber Sr. and Helene Fallenstein's eight children. Over the course of his life, Weber Sr. held posts as a lawyer, civil servant, and parliamentarian for the National Liberal Party in the Prussian Landtag and German Reichstag . His involvement in public life immersed his home in both politics and academia, as his salon welcomed scholars and public figures such as
46398-417: Was caused by his support for value-freedom in the social sciences, as that was a controversial position in the association. Weber – alongside Simmel, Sombart, and Tönnies – placed an abbreviated form of it into the association's statutes, prompting criticism from its other members. In the same year, Weber and his wife befriended a former student of his, Else von Richthofen , and
46620-527: Was coined in 1908 by the Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter as a way of referring to Weber's views on how to explain social phenomena. While his research interests placed a strong emphasis on interpreting economic history , Weber's support of methodological individualism represented a break with the historical school and an agreement with the Austrian school's founder, Carl Menger, in
46842-723: Was cremated in the Munich Ostfriedhof after a secular ceremony, and the urn that contained his ashes was later buried in the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof [ de ] in 1921. The funeral service was attended by his students, including Eduard Baumgarten [ de ] and Karl Loewenstein , and fellow scholars, such as Lujo Brentano. At the time of his death, Weber had not finished writing Economy and Society , his magnum opus on sociological theory. His widow, Marianne, helped prepare it for its publication in 1922. She later published
47064-431: Was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology , the original "science of society", established in the 19th century. In addition to sociology, it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines , including anthropology , archaeology , economics , education , history , human geography , law , linguistics , political science , and psychology . Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of
47286-406: Was found in the desire to work hard in a way that pleased the worker and signified their worth and originally had a basis in theology. In particular, the Protestant work ethic motivated the believers to work hard, be successful in business, and reinvest their profits in further development rather than frivolous pleasures. Weber thought that self-restraint, hard work, and a belief that wealth could be
47508-438: Was in understanding the processes of rationalisation , secularisation , and disenchantment . He formulated a thesis arguing that such processes were associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity. Weber also argued that the Protestant work ethic influenced the creation of capitalism in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . It was followed by The Economic Ethics of the World Religions , where he examined
47730-424: Was initiated by Émile Durkheim , studying "social facts", and Vilfredo Pareto , opening metatheoretical ideas and individual theories. A third means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which social phenomena were identified with and understood; this was championed by figures such as Max Weber . The fourth route taken, based in economics, was developed and furthered economic knowledge as
47952-553: Was killed near Brest-Litovsk in 1915 while fighting in the war. Weber had previously viewed him negatively but his death made him feel more connected to him. He and his wife also participated in the 1917 Lauenstein Conferences that were held at Lauenstein Castle [ de ] in Bavaria . These conferences were planned by the publisher Eugen Diederichs and brought together intellectuals, including Theodor Heuss , Ernst Toller , and Werner Sombart. Weber's presence elevated his profile in Germany and served to dispel some of
48174-400: Was left incomplete as a result of his sudden death in 1920, which prevented him from following Ancient Judaism with studies of early Christianity and Islam. The three main themes within the books were: religious ideas' effect on economic activities, the relationship between social stratification and religious ideas, and the distinguishable characteristics of Western civilisation . His goal
48396-401: Was on individuals and culture. Whereas Durkheim focused on society, Weber concentrated on the individual and their actions. Meanwhile, compared to Marx's support for the primacy of the material world over the world of ideas, Weber valued ideas as motivating individuals' actions. He had a different perspective from the two of them regarding structure and action and macrostructure in that he
48618-503: Was open to the idea that social phenomena could have several different causes and placed importance on social actors ' interpretations of their actions. The result of what has been said so far is that an "objective" treatment of cultural occurrences, in the sense that the ideal aim of scientific work would be to reduce the empirical [reality] to "laws", is absurd. Not because – as it has often been claimed – the course of cultural processes or, say, processes in
48840-461: Was primarily young Germans with different political perspectives, including communists . While neither of them were able to convince the other of their points, Weber was more cautious and careful in his arguments against Spengler than the other debaters were. Afterwards, the students did not feel that the question of how to resolve Germany's post-war issues had been answered. Lili Schäfer, one of Weber's sisters, committed suicide on 7 April 1920 after
49062-431: Was the only great power that actually desired the war. He also regarded Germany as not having been culpable for its invasion of Belgium , viewing Belgian neutrality as having obscured an alliance with France . Overall, Weber's political efforts were largely unsuccessful, with the exception of his support for a democratically elected and strong presidency. On 28 January 1919, after his electoral defeat, Weber delivered
49284-416: Was to find reasons for the different developmental paths of the cultures of the Western world and the Eastern world , without making value-judgements, unlike the contemporaneous social Darwinists . Weber simply wanted to explain the distinctive elements of Western civilisation. Weber also proposed a socio-evolutionary model of religious change where societies moved from magic to ethical monotheism , with
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