Birthplace Erfurt, Germany.
Posts Held Prof. Econ., Univ. Freiburg, 1894-6, Univ. Heidelbertg, 1896-1904.
Publications Books: 1. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5, 1930); 2. The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation, eds. A. M. Henderson and T. Parsons (1922, 1947); 3. On the Methodology of the Social Sciences, eds. E. A. Shils and H. A. Finch (1949); 4. General Economic History (1923, 1961)
Career One of the major figures in sociology whose system was based on the meaning individuals attached to their actions. This led him to reject various other systems, including the utilitarianism of the marginalists. His famous thesis on Protestantism and capitalism was intended to resolve the paradox of the condemnation to the acquisitive spirit in Protestant theology and the evident economic success of members of Protestant sects. Much of his religion and the methodology of the social sciences. In Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft he examined economic activity for what it revealed about the social behaviour of groups. Owing to ill-health, much of his written work is in unfinished fragments which have been edited and published posthumously. Even his finished writings, however, are tortuously written and have created endless controversies.
Secondary Literature M. Weber, Max Weber: A Biography (1926, 1957); R. Bendix, `Weber, Max', International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences , D. L. Sills (ed.) (Macmillan and Free Press, 1968), vol. 16.

Go back to Akamac E-text Links