Economy and Society (part 1) (Max Weber)

Status Groups and Classes 302 PART TWO, THE ECONOMY AND THE ARENA OF The Economy and Social Norms 31 J The Economic Relationships of Organized Groups ~39 Household, Neighborhood and Kin

-Max U1eber

.•-.

and Claus Wittich

University of California Press

Berlreley • Lo,'Angeles • London

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u_of CollfonriA " - , ""dr Angd<.,CoIilonrla

Untversity of c.Iifmnia Press, Ltd., LimdOD EngWid

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Econamy and Society is a t[anslation of Max Weber, WiTtsc1ulft und Gesellsdu4t.

Grundriss del' vl!I'"stehe.rsden Soziologie based on the 4th German edition, Johannes Winckelmann (00.), Tubingen: J. C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1956, pp I-SSO, HsHl2.1, as revised in the 1964 paperback edition (K&!n-Berlin: Kiepenbeuer &: Witseh), with appendices from Max Weber, G8SQfllmeile Aufsiitu wr Wissen-

s<:hafulehre, 2nd rev edition, Johannes Winckelmann (ed.), To.bingen: J. C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1951, pp 441-467 (selected ~ges), and Max Weber, Ge54mmelte politische Schri~n, 2nd expanded edition, Johannes Wincke1mann (eel.), TUbingen: J.C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), I9~8, pp 294-394.

The exclusive license to make this En2W;b edition has been granted to the University

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The English text includes (with revisions and with addition of nOles) material previously published and COpyrighted by these publishers:

Beacon Press;

Ephraim FiscbofF, trans., The Sociology of Religion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963),

pp 1-274 Ccpyright © 1¢i3 by Beacon Press Reprinted by arrangement with

Beacon Press.

Ox(OTd UniversityPress:

Hans Genh and C Wriszht Mills, tJ:ans and eels., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp 1"9-244, 253-262 CopY' •

right 1946 by Oxford University Press, Inc British Commonwealth rights by,Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd Reprinted by permission.

The Free Pressof GlencOll:

Ferdinand Kolegar, tJ:ans., "The Household Community" and "Ethnic Groups," in Talcott Parsons et al., eds., ThllorWsofSoc~ty (New York, The Free PreSii of Glencoe, 1961), vol r, pp 296-298, 302-309 Copyright © l¢il by The Free Press of Glencoe Reprinted by permission.

Talcott Pusons, ed. (A. M Henderson and T Parsons, trans.), TJu Theory of Social

aM Economic Organization (New YOlk: The Free Press of Glencoe, r964; originally published by Oxford University Press (947), pp 87-423 Copyright 1947 by The Free Press of Glencoe Reprinted by permission.

Harvorrd University Press:

Max Rbeinstein, ed (Edward Shils and Max Rbeinstein, tJ:ans.), M.u: WebB!" Oft Law

in Economy" and Society (20th Century Legal Philosophy Series, Vol VI;

Cam-brid~, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp n-348 Copyright, 1954 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Reprinted by permission.

Ccrrespondence about thes~ sections of the English translation should be directed to the above publishers See editors' preface for details about their location in this edition.

Translator" EPHRAIM FlSCHOFF

,

\

INTRODUCTION by Guenther Roth xxxiii

PART ONE CONCEPTUAL EXPOS'TION

I Basic Sociological Terms 3

II Sodological CategoriesofEconomic Action 63

Ill The Types of Legitimate Domination lol2

IV Status Groups and Classes 302

PART TWO, THE ECONOMY AND THE ARENA OF

The Economy and Social Norms 31 J

The Economic Relationships of Organized Groups ~39

Household, Neighborhood and Kin Group 3,6

Household, Enterprise andDUws 370

Ethnic Groups 385

Religious Groups (The Sociulogy of Religion) 399

The Market.: Its Impersonality and Eihic (Fragment)

VIII Economy and Law (The Sociology of Law) 641

IX Political Communities 901

X Domination and Legitimacy 941

XI Bureaucracy 956

[vI

\

\

XII Patriarcbalism and Patrimonialism 1006

XIII feudalism.StiindssUuUand Patrimonialism 1°7°

XIV Charisma and Its Transformation I I I I

XV Political and Hierocratic Domination 115 8

XVI The City CNon-Ugitimate Domination) 1212

APPENDICES

I TypesofSocial Action and Groups 1375

n. Parliament and Government in a Reconstructed Germany 1381

INDEX·

Schotars J1t

Historical Names v

Subjects xi

2 Sociological Theory, Comparative Study and Historical Explanation xxxv

3 The Legal Forms of Medieval Trading Enterprises xl

4 Economic and Political Power in Ancient Gennanic History xlii :

5 The Roman Empire and Imperial Germany xlvi

6 The Economic Theory of Antiquity 1

7 A Political Typology of Antiquity liv

8 Weber's Vision of the Future and His Academic Politics lvii

9 The Planning of Economy and Sodety lxii

10. The Structure of Economy and Society !xvi

1 PART TWO: THE BARJ.lER PART lxvii

Ch I, Th, E",nomy 'ndSod,]Nonm-OnS"mn>1e< !xvii

Ch II: On Marx, Michels and Sombart lXix

Cbs III-V: The Relatively Universal Groups lxxiii

Ch VI: The Sociology of Religion !xxvi

Ch VII: The Market, Its Impersonality and Ethic !xxx

Ch VIII: The Sociology ofLaw lxxxi

Ch IX: Political Community and State lxxxiv

Chs X-XVI: TheSociologyofDomination lxxxvili

Cn) The DimensionsofRulership xciii

Co) The Terminology of Domination xciv

CD) The City: Usurpation and Revolution xcvii

II PAnT ONn: THE LATER PART e

I I Weber's Political Wri~ngs civ

12 On Editing and TranslatingEconomy and Society cvii

13· Acknowledgements ex

[vii]

•

Types of Social Action 24

3 The Concept of Social Relationship 26

4 Types of Action Orientation: Usage, Custom, Self·Interest 29

5" Legitimate Order 31

6 Types of Legitimate Order: Convention and Law 33

7 Bases of Legitimacy: Tradition, Faith, Enactment 36

8 Conflict, Competition, Selection 38

9 Communal and Associative Relationships 40

TO Open and Closed Relationships 43

I I The Imputation of Social Action: Representation and Mutual

Responsibility 46

12 The Organization 48

13 Consensual and Impoocd Order in Organizations 50

14 Administrative and Regulative Order 51

15 Enterprise, Formal Organization, Voluntary and Compulsory

Associatioo 52

16 Power and Jl>mination 53

17 Political and Hierocratic Organizations 54

Notes 56

Chapter II

Prefatory Note 63

1 The Concept of Economic Action 63

2 The Concept of Utility 68

3 Modes of the Economic Orientation of Action 69

4 Typical MeasuresofRational Economic Action 7.1

5 Types of Economic Organizations 74

6 Media of Exchange, Means of Payment, Money 75

7 The Primary Consequences of the UseofMoney Oredit 80

9 Formal and Substantive Rationality of Economic Action 85

10 The Rationali~ of Monetary Accounting: Management anr Budgeting 86

I J The Concept and Types of Profit.Making The Role of Capital 90

12 Calculations in Kind 100

J 3 Substantive ConditionsofFormal Rationality in a Money Economy 107

•

3

Analytical Coments IX

14 Market Economies and Planned Economies 1°9

15 Types of Economic Division of Labor I I 4

16 Types of the Technical Division of Labor 118

17 Types of the Technical Division ofLabor-( Continued) 120

18 Social Aspects of the Division of Labor 1:2.2

19 Social Aspects of the Division ofLabor-(Continued) 125

20. Social Aspects of the Division of Labor: The Appropriation of the

Material Means of Production 130

21 Social Aspects of the Division of Labor: The Appropriation of

Managerial Functions 136

22 The Expropriation of Workers from the Means of Production 137

23 The Expropriation of Workers from the Means.of Production

27 Capital Goods and Capital Accounting 154

28 The Conceprof Trade and Its Principal Forms 156

29 The Concept of Trade and Its Principal Form~-(Continued) 157

29a The Concept of Trade and Its Principal Forms-(Concluded) 159

30. The CoI'dirions of Maximum Formal Rationality of Capital Accounting 161

31 The Principal Modes of Capitalistic Orientation of Profit-Making 164

32 The Monetary System of the Modern State and the Different KiI'd~ofMoney: Currency Money 166

.13· Restricted Money 174

34· Note Money 176

35 The Formal and Substantive Validity of Money 178

36 Met.hods and Aims of Monetary Policy 180

36a. Excursus:ACritical Note on the "State Theory of Money" 184

37, TheNon·Monetary Significance of Political Bodies for the Economic

Order 193

38 The Financing vf Polirical Bodies 194

39 Repercussions of Public Financing on Private Economic Activity t 99

40 The Influence of ECOP;Jmic Factors on the Formation of Organiutions 201

41. l'ne Mainspring (If Economic Activity 202

Notes 206

Chapter III

THE TYPES OF LEGITIMATE DOMINATION

.<

i THE BASIS OF LIiGmMACY :112

I Domination and Legitimacy 212

2 The Three Pure Types of Authority 215

ii LBGAL AUTHORITY WITH A BUREAUCRATIC ADMINISTRATIVB STAFF 217

3 Legal Authority: The Pure Type :117

4 Legal Authority: The PureType-C907ltinued) 220

5 Monocratic Bureaucracy 21.3

x ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

iii. TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY 226

6 The Pure Type 226

7 The Pure Type -(Continued) 1.2.8

73• Geronrocracy, Patriarchalism and Patrimonialism 23 1

8 Patrimonial Maintenance: Benefices and Fiefs 235

9 Estate-Type Domination and Its DivisionofPowers 236

93 Traditional Domination and the Economy 237

iv CHARISMATIC AUTHOIUTY 24 1

10 Charismatic Authority and Charismatic Community 241

11 THIl ROUTINIZATlON 01' CHARISMA 24 6

I J The Riseofthe Charismatic Community and the Problem of

Succession 246

J 2 Types of Appropriationbythe Charismatic Stalf 249

1208 Status Honor and the Legitimation of Authority 251

vi. I'BUDALlsM 255'

J 2h Occidental Feudalism and ItsCon8ictwith Patrimonialism 255

12C Prebendal Feudalism and Other Variants 259

13- Combinationsofthe Different Types of Authority 262

vii.• THS Tl\ANSPORMATlON OF CHARISMA IN A DEMOCRATIC

DIllBCTlOl"f ,,66

14. Democratic Legitimacy,Plebiscitary Leadership and Elected

Officialdom 266

wi. COLLBGlALrrt AND TID DIVllJION 01' PoWERS :171

I; TypesofCoJ&t2ialityand oftheDivision of Powers 271

16 The Func:tionaI1y Specific DivisiooofPowers 282

17 The Relations of me Political Sepwation of Powers to the Economy 28-be PAJ\TlBS 2.84

'18 Definition and Characteristics 2.84

X. UDUlCT DBMOCJ\ACY ANI) J\EpJUl,SENTATIVil ADMINISTRATION 2 9

19 The ConditionsofDirectDemocracy and of Administrationby

Notables 2.89

20. AdministrationbyNotables 2.9°

xi JUl,PRIlUNTATlON 2.92.

:u The Principal Fonns and CharaCteristics 292

22 Representationbythe AgentsofInterest Groups ;.97

Notes 299

Chapter IV

I Class Situation JlDd Class Types 3°2

Analytical Cuntents

Part Two: THE ECONOMY AND THE ARENA

I Legal Order and Economic <hier 3 1 J

A. The Sociological Concept ofLaw 3I I

B StateLawand Extra-Stare Law 316

2. Law,Convention, and Custom 319

A. Signi6cance of Customin the Fonnation ofLaw 319

B. Change Through Inspiration and Empathy 321

c Borderline Zones Between Convention, Custom, and Law 32-3

3. Excursusin Response to Rudolf Stammler 32.5

4 Summary of the Most General Relations BetweenLawand Economy 333

Notes 337

Chapter II

I Economic Action and Economically Active Groups 339

1 Open and Closed Economic Relationships 341

3 Group Structures and Economic Interests: Mondl'Olist versus

Expansiohist Tendencies 344

4 Five TypesofWant Satisfaction by Economically Active Groups 348

5 Effects of Want Satisfaction and 'taxation on Capitalism and

Mercantilism HI

NOklS 35'4

CIoapk< III

I. The Household: Familial, CapitalisticandCommunistic Solidarity 3;6

a, TheNeighborhood: An Unsentimental Economic Brotherhood 360

TheKinGroup IIDd ItsEconomicEElects on the Household 36;

NOMs 369

Chap'" IV

:; J ••The ImpactofEconomic,Militaryand Political Groups on Joint

X II ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

1 The Disintegration of the Household: The Rise of the Calculative

Spirit and of the Mod.ern Capitalist Enterprise 375

3 TIle Alternative Development: The Qikas 381

Notes 384 \

Chapter V ETHNIC GROUPS

F,EUCIOUS GROUPS (THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION)

i THE ORIGT:'IS OF RELiGION 399

1 The Original This-Worldly Orientation of Religious and Magical

Action 399

2 The Belief in Spirits, Demons, and the Soul 401

3 Naturalism and Symbolism 403

1 P,mtheon and Functional Gods 407

" A.nc('~tor Cult and the Priesthoodofthe Family Head 41 I

6, Political and Local Gods 41:1.

7 Universalism and ;\'lonotheisminRelation to Everyday ReligiousNeedsand Pl.litic~l Organization 419

}\otes 42.0

,i .\lACIC AN]) RELIGION 42.2.

,\1.I):i<:a1 Coercion versus Supplication, Prayer and Sacrifice 42.2.

"J Jh' Diffen'JlIiation ufPriests from, Magicians 4].5

!ica,:tions to Success and Failure-of Godsand Demons 42.7

+ 1.:Lj';ll Lkitics and Ino:reasing Demands Upon Them 42.9

') \ L"".i'al Oril4ins of Religious Ethics and the Rationalization of Taboo 432.

" Tal",,\ l\"orms: Totemism and Commensalism 433

7 :: ;LW: Taboo, Vocational Caste Ethics, and Capitalism 435

3 from l\1agical Ethics to Cvnscience, Sin and Salvatio~ 437

l\oln 439

,i, TH~PflOPHET 439

I Prophet versus'Priest and I\hgidah 439

2 Prophet and Lawgiver 44:.1.

3 Prophet and:reacher of Ethics 444

4 MY:;lagoguc and Teacher 446

5 Fthi,aJ and Exempbry Prophecy 447

6 liJe' Nature of Prophetic Revelation: The WorldAsa Meaningful

1 <>t<ility 450

Noles

399

Analytical Conwnts

iv. THE CONGRECATION BETWEEN PROPHET AND PRIEST 45 2

I The Congregation: The Permanent Association of Laymen 45 2

2 Canonical Writings, Dogmas alld Scriptural Religion 457

3 Preaching and Pastoral Care as Results of Prophetic Religion 464

Notes 467

X II 1

V THE RELIGlOUS PROF6NSITIE6 OF PEASANTRY, NOBILITY

~ND BOUil.GBOISU! 468

I Peasant Religion and Its Ideological Glorification 468

2 Aristocratic Irreligion versus Warring fQr the Faith 472

3 Bureaucratic Irreligion 47 6

4 Bourgeois Religiosity and ECOQOlaic Rationalism 477

Notes 480

vi. THE RELICION OF NON-PRIVILEOIlD STR~T~ 81

I The Craftsmen's Inclination T oward Congre~rional and Silvatil:a

4 The Religious Equality of Women Among Disprivileged Srrata 488

5 The Differential Function of Salvation Religion for Higher and Lower Strata: Legitimation versus Compensation 490

6 Pariah People andRessentiment: Judaism versus Hinduism 492

Notes 499

vii INTELLECTUALISM, INTELLSCTUALS, AND SALVATION

RELIGION 500

I Priests and Monks as Intellectualist Elaborators of Religion 500

2 High-Status Intellectuals as Religio'ls Innovators 5 02

1 Political Decline of Privileged Strata and Escapism of Intellectuals 5°3

4 The Religious ImpactofProletarian, Petty-Bourgeois and Pariah

7 Elite and Mass Intellectualism in Medieval Christianity 5 1 3

8 Modem Intellectual Status Groups and Secular Salvation Ideologies 515

Notes 517

viii. THEODICY, SALVATION, AND REBIRTH 518

I Theodicy and Eschatology '; 18

2 Predestination and Providence 522

3 Other Solutions of Theodicy: Dualism and the Transmigration of

the Soul 523

4 Salvation: This-Worldly and Other-Worldly 526

Notes 52!)

XIV ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

ix SALVATION THROUGH THE BELIEVER'S EFFORTS P·9

J Salvation Through Ritual 529

2 Salvation ThroughGoodWorks SP

3 Salvation Through Self-Perfection 534

4 The Certainty of Grace and the Religious Virtuosi 538

Notes )41

x ASCETICISM, MYSTICISM AND SALVATION 541

I Asceticism: World-Rejecting or Inner·Worldly 541

2 Mysticism ve'rsus Asceticism 544

3 The Decisive Differences Between Oriental and Occidental Salvation 55 1

Notes 556

xi SOTERIOLOGY OR SALVATION PROM OUTSIDE 557

I Salvation Through the Savior's Incamation and Through

Institutional Grace ') 57

2 Salvation Through Faith Alone and Its Anti-Intellectual Consequences 563

3 Salvation Through Belief in Predestination 57 2

Notes 576

xij. RELIGlOUS ETHICS AND THE "':ORLD: ECONOMICS 57 6

1 Worldly Virtues and the Ethics of Ultimate Ends 576

2. Familial Piety Neighborly Help, and Compensation 5"79

3 Alms-Giving, Charity, and the Protection of the Weak 5"81

4 Religious Ethics, Economic Rationality and the Issue of Usury 5"83

Notes 5"89

xiii RELIGIOUS ETHICS AND TUB WORLD: POLITICS 5"9 0

I From Political Subordination to the Anti-Political Rejection

of the World 5"90

2 Tensions and Compromises Between Ethics and Politics 5"93

3 NaturalLawand Vocational Ethics 5'97

Notes 601

xiv RELIGIOUS ETHICS AND THE WORLD: SEXUALITY AND ART 602

I. Orgyversus Chastity 602

2 TheHeligious StatusofMarriage and of Women _604

3 The Tensions between Ethical Religion and Art 607

Now 610

n Till! GIUlAT BELlGlONS AND THE WORLD 611

I Judaism andCapitalism 611

2 JewishRationalismversus Puritan Asceticism 615"

3 The This-Worldliness of Islam and Its Economic Ethics 62.3

4 The Other-Worldliness of Buddhism and Its Economic Consequences 627

5 Jesus' Indifference Toward the World 630

Notes· 634

i, PIELDS OF SUBSTANTIVE LAW 641

I Public Law and PrivateLaw 641

2 Right-GrantingLawand Reglementarion 644

3 "Government" and "Administration" 644

4- Criminal Law and PrivateLaw 647

; Tort and Crime 649

6 Imperium 6;1

7 Limitation of Power and Separation of Powers 65:1

8 Substantive Law and Procedure 6; 3

9 The Categories of Legal Thought 654

Notes 6;8

ii. FORMS 01' CREATION 01' lUCHTS 666

T Logical Categories of "Legal Proposirions"-Li.herties and

Powers-FreedomofContract 666

2. Development ofFlt'edom of Conttaet-"Status Contracts" and

"Purposive Contracts"-The Historical Origin of the Purposive

f'rmtfacl:S 668

3 Institutions Auxiliary to Actionable Contract: Agency; Assignment;

Negotiable InstrumentS 681

+ Limitations of FreedomofContract 683

) fXl{"nsion of the Effect of a ContractBeyOndIts Partle~

"SpecisI Law" 694

6 Associarional Contracts-Juristic Personality 70S'

7 Freedom and Coercion 729

Notes 732

ii•. EMBRGBNCE AND CRllATION 01' LEGAL NORMS 7S'3

t, The Emergence of NewLegal Normr-Theories of Customary

LawInsufficient as Explanations 75'3

XVI ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

2 The Role of Party Practices in the Emergence a~d Developmeft

3· From Irrational Adjudication to the Emergence of Judge-Made Law 7<;8 4· Development of New Law Through Imposition from Above 760 5· Approaches to Legislation 765

6 The Role of the Law Prophets and of the Folk Justke of the

I Empirical Legal Training: Law as a "Craft" 785

2 Academic Legal Training: Law as a "Scjen(.'t~"-Origins

I The General Conditions ofLegal ~ormalism 809

2 The Substantive Rationalization of Sacred Law 815

2 The Driving Forces Behind Codification 848

3 The Reception of Roman Law and the Development of Modem

I The French Civil Code 865

2 Natural Law as the Normative Standard of Positive Law 866

3 The Origins of Modem Natural Law 868

4 Transformation of Fonnal into Substantive Natural Law 868

5 Class Relations in Natural Law Ideology 871

6 Praclical Signincance and Disintegration of Natural Law 873

7 Legal Positivism and the Legal Profession 875

Notes 876

.

Analytical Contents X V I IViii.""I'IiE FORMAl QUALITIIIS OF MODERN LAW 880

I Particularism in ModemLaw 880

2 The Anti-Fonnalistic Tendencies of Modem Legal Development 882

3 Contemporary AnglO'-American Law 889

4 Lay Justice and Corporative Tendencie~ in the Modern Legal

Profession 892

Notes 895

Chapter IX

POLITICAL COMMUNITIES

I. Nature and "Legitimacy" of Territorial Political Organizations 901

2 Stages in the Formation of Political Association 904

3· Power Prestige and the "Great Powers" 91o

4· The Economic Foundations of "Imperialism" 913

5 The Nation 921

6 The Distribution of Power Within the Political

Community; Class, Status, Party 926

A Economically Determined Power and the Status Order 926

B Detennination of Class Situation by Market Situation 927

c Social Action Flowing from Class Interest 928

D Types of Class Struggle 930

DOMINATION AND LEGITIMACY

I DotyIinalion by Economic Power and by Authority 94r

1- 2 Direct Democracy ~nd Rule by Notables 948

t· 3· Organizational Structure and the Bases of Legitimate Authority 952

XV II I

BUREAUCRACY

ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

Chapter Xl

I Characteristics of Modem Bureaucracy 956

2 The Position of the Official Within and Outside of Bureaucracy 958

J Office HoldingAs a Vocation 958

II The Social Position of the Official 959

A. SocialEsteem and Status Convention 959

B. Appointment venus Election: C-onsequencesJoI Expertise 960

c Tenure and the Inverse Relationship Between Judicial

Independence and Social Prestige 962

D RankAsthe Basis of Regular Salary 963

B Fixed Career Lines and Status Rigidity 9 6 3

3· Monetary and Financial Presuppositions of Bureaucracy 963

A. Excursuson Tax-Fanning 965

B Office Purchase, Prebendal and Feudal Administration 966

c Excursus on the Superiority of Status Incentives OWl

Physical Coercion 967

D Summary 968

4· The Quantitative Development of Administrative Tasks 969

Excursuson the Degree of Bureaucratization in

Historical Empire Fonnations 969

5· Qualitative Changes of Administrative Tasks: The Impact of

Cultural, EConomic and Technological Developments 971

6 The Technical SuperiOrity of Bureaucratic Organization over

Administration by Notables 973

A. Excursuson Kadi Justice Common Law and Roman law 976

B Bureaucratic Objectivity.Raison d'E.tatand Popular Will 97 8

7· The Concentration of the Means of Administration 9 80

A The Bureaucratization of the Army by the State and by

c Excursus: Historical Examples of "Passive Democratization" 985

D Economic and Political Motives Behind "Passive

Democratization" 986

9· The Objective and Subjective Bases of Bureaucratic Perpetuity 987

10 The Indeterminate Economic Consequences of Bureaunarization 989

I I The Power Position of the Bureaucracy 990

A The Political Irrelevance of Functional Indispensability 99 1

B Administrative Secrecy 992

c The Ruler's Dependence en rhe Bureaucracy 993

12 E=ursuson Collegiate Bodies and tntercst Groups 9SH

13· Bureaucracy and Education 998

A Educational Specialization, Dcgn.'~'Hunting and Status Seeking 998

PATRIARCHALISM AND PATRIMONIALlSM

1 The Nature and Origin of Patriarchal Domination 1006

2 Domination by HOffarlltiQTes and Pure Patriarchalism 10°9

3 Patrimonial Domination 10 I°

4 The Patrimvnial State 1013

5 Power Resources' Patlimonial and Non-Patrimonial Armies 1015

6 Patrimonial Domination and Traditional Legitimacy 102.0

7 Patrimonial Satisfaction of Public Wants Liturgy and Collective

Responsibility Compulsory Associations 102.2.

8, PatrinlOniaIOffices 102.5

9 Patrimonial versus Bureaucratic Officialdom t 02.8

10 .The Maintenance of Patrimonial Official~ Benefices in Kind and

inFees 1031

1 I Decentralized and Typified Administration As a Consequence of

Appropriation and Monopolization 1038

12 Defenses of the Patrimonial State Against Disintegratitm 1°42.

13 Ancient Egypt 1044

14 The Chinese Empire 1047

15 Decentralized Patrimonial Domination; Satrapies and Divisional

Principalities 1051

16 Patrimonial Rulers versus Local Lords 1055

17 The English Administration by Notables, the Gentry's Justices

of the Peace, and the Evolution of the "Gentleman" 10;9

I The Nature of Fiefs and Types of Feudal Relationship' 1070

2, Fiefs and Benefices 1°73

3· The MilitHry Origin ol Feudalism 1°77

4 Feudal Legitimation 1078

5 The Feudal Separation of Powers and Its Typification 1082

6 The $tandestallt and the Transition from Feudalism to Bureaucracy 108;

7 Patrimonial Officialdom 1088

8 The indetenninate Economic Preconditions of Patrimonialism

and Feudalism 1090

9 The Impact of Trade on the Development of Patrimonialism 1°92

10 The Stabilizing Influence of Patrimonialism and Feudalism

Upon lhe Economy 1094

Monopolism and Mercantilism 1°97

The Formation and Distribution of Wealth under Feudalism

Patrimonial Monopoly and Capitalise Privilege ] 102

Ethos and Style of Life 1 1°4

Notes 1109

1°99

Chapter XIV

i, THE NATURE AND IMPACT OF CHARISMA III I

I The Sociological Nature of Charismatic Authority I I I 1

2 Foundations and Instability of Charismatic Authority I I 14

3· The Revolutionary Nature of Charisma I I I 5

4- Range of Effectiveness "1117

5 The Social Structure of Charismatic Domination 1119

6 The Communist Want Satisfaction of the C.harismatic Community 1119

ii. THE CENESIS AND TRANSFORMATION OF CHARISMATIC

AUTHORITY 1121

I The Routinization of Charisma I I 21

2 The Selection of Leaders and the Designation of SucceSSOIS 1123

3 Charismatic Acclamation I I 25

4 The Transition to Democratic Suffrage I J 27

5 The Meaning of Election and Representation I u.S

6 Excursuson Patty Control by Charismatic Leaders, Notables and

Bureaucrats I 130

7 Charisma and the Persistent Forms of Domination 1133

8 The Depersonalization of Charisma: Lineage Charisma, "Clan State"

and Primogeniture 1135

9 Office Charisma I I 39

10 Charismatic Kingship 1141

I I Charismatic Education 1143

12 The Plutocratic Acquisition of Charisma 1145

13 The Charismatic Legitimation of the Existing Order 1146

iii DISCIPLINE AND CHARISMA 1148

I The Meaning of Discipline 1148

1 The Origins of Discipline in War 1150

3 The Discipline of Large-Scale Economic Organizations 115;

Nores 1156

Chapter XV

POLITICAL AND HIEflOCRATIC DOMINATION 1158

I Charismatic Legitimation: Rulers versus Priests 1158

2 Hierocracy, Theocracy and CaesaropapistTl 1159

Analytical Contents X X I

6, the Religious-Charismatic and the Rational Achievements of

Monasticism I 168

7, The Uses of Monasticism for Caesaropapism and Hierocracy 1170

8, Compromises Between Political and Hicrocratic Power 1173

9 The Social Preconditions of Hierocratic Domination and of Religiosity 1 I 77

10 The Impact of Hier"cracy on Economic Development ! 181

A The Accumulation of Church Lands and Secular Opposition 1181

B Hicrocratic and Bourgeois Trading and Craft Interests 1183

c Hierocratic and Charismatic Ethics Versus Non-Ethical Capitalism I t85

D The Ban on Usmy, the Just Price, and the Downgradir:g of

Set:ular Vocational Ethics 1188

1: Hieronatic Rationalization and the Uniqueness of Occidental

Culture 1192

t! Hicnx:racy in the Age of Capitalism and of Bourgeois Democracy 1193

12 The Reformation and Its Impact on Economic Life 1196

A The P(llitical and ReligiOUS Causes of the Religious Split 1196

B Lutheranism 1197

c Ethics and Church in Cakinism I !98

13 Hilc'rocracy and Economic Ethos in Judaism 1200

A Exclj'rsus on Interpretations of the Judaic Economic Ethos 1202

B JuJaism and Capitalism 1203

J4 Serr Church and Democrat:y 1204

THE CiTY C\'OI\'LEGITI.\'I/\TE DOl\.W\lATION)

i, CONCEPTS AI"I) CATEGOR.mS OF THE CITY 1212

J The Et:onomic Concept of the City: Thc :\larket Settlement 1212

2 Three Types: The "Consumcr City,"thl;'"Produt:cr City," the

".\lerl'hant Citv" 1215

l Hebtion of the'City to Agricultnre 1217

4; The "Urban Economy" as a St<lge of Etonomk Dn'elopment 1218

5 The Politico·Administrative Concepl of the City 122C

6 Fortress and Garrison 1221

7· The City as a Fusion of Fortress and \1arkd 122.'1

8 The "Commune" and the- "Burgher" A Sur\'l'Y i 226

A Features of the DCl'ident:!1 Commune 1226

II, Lack of Communal Features in the Orient 1226

c Prc-('.ommunal Patrician Cities~;\I('(.:ea 12,'11

NOles 1234

ji THE OCCIDENTAL CITY 1236

Char'-lcter of Urhan Landownership and Legal Status of Persons 1236 TIll' Rise of the City as a Confratcrnitv 1;1.4 J

APrerequisite for Confracernizatioo: [)isso]ution of Clan Tics 1243

Extra·Urban r\ssociations in the Ancient and \lcdil;'val City 1244

The Sworn Confraterni2ation in the Dccidl;'nt Legal and Political

Consequences J 248

The Cflllillrationes in Italy 125

1212

XX I I • ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

7· The confTf~terniUltes in the Gennanic North 1256

8 The Significan,,-'e of Urban Military Autonomy in the Occident 12.60

Notes 1262

iii, THE PATRICIAN CITY IN THE MIDDLE ACES

AND IN ANTIQUITY 1266

J The Nature of Patrician City Rule 1266

2 The Monopolistically Closed Rule of the Nobili in Venice 1268

3· Patrician Rule in Other Italian Communes: The Absence of

MOJ:lopolisl Closure, and the Institution of thePodesta 1273

4· English City Oligarchies and Their Constraint by the Royal

Administration 1:1 76

5· Rule of the Council-Patriciate and of the Crafts in Northern Europe {:lSI

6 Family-Charismatic Kingdoms in Antiquity 1282

7· The Ancient Patrician City as a Coastal Settlement of Warriors 1285

8 Ancient anq.Meclieval Patrician Cities: Contrasts and Similarities 1290

9· Economic Character of the Ancient and Medieval Patriciate 1292

Notes 1296

iv THE PLEBEIAN CITY 1301

J The Destruction of Patrician Rule Throu!h the Sworn Confraternity 130 I

2 The Revolutionary Character of thePopa 0as a Non-Legitimate

Political Association 1302

3· The Distribution of Power Among the Status Groups of the Medieval

TraHan City 13°4

4· Ancient Parallels: Plebsand Tribune in Rome 1308

5· Ancient Parallels: Demos and Ephors in Sparta 1309

6 Stafl;es and Consequences of Democratization in Greece 1311

A Differential Votir.g Rights 131 I

B The Rise of the Compulsory Territorial Organization and of

Territorial Legislation 131},.

c The ReplacemlYnt of Notables by Democratic Functionaries 1314

7· Illegitimate Rulership: The AncientTyrannis 1315

8 Illegitimate Rulership: The Medieval5ignoria 13! 7

9· The Pacification of the Burghers and the Legitimation of the Signoria 1319

10 Urban Autonomy, Capitalism and Patrimonial Bureaucracy:

A Summary 1322

A Political Autonomv 1323

B Autonomous Law'Creation 1325

c Autocephaly 1326

D Taxing Autonomy I3J 7

E Market Rights and Autonomous Urban Economic Policy 1328

F Attitude Toward Non-Citizen Strata 1331

G The City and the Church 1333

Notes 1335

v ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL DEMOCl\ACY 1339

1 Origin of the Ancient Lower Class: Debtors and Slaves 1340

2 Constituencies of the City: Ancient Territorial Units versus

Medieval Craft Associations 1343

3· Excursus on Athenian velsus Roman Constituencies 1348

4· Economic Policies and Military Interests 1349

•

Analytical Contents XXIII

5 Serfs, Ciients and Freedmen: Their Political and Economic Role 1354

6 The Polis as a Warrior Guild versus the Medieval Commercial Inland

Appendix 11

GERMA\'Y(A Contribution to the Political Critique of Officialdom

Preface 1381

1 BI;;i\f/',RCK'S LECACY 138,

:j BUREAUCRACY AND l'OLITICAL LEAIlEI\SlfIP 1393

I BUH;,aucracy and Politit's 1393

2 The Realities of Party Politics and the Fallacy of the Corp:nate State 1395

3 BLi,eaucratization and the Naivete of the Literati 1399

4 The Political Limitations of Bureaucracy 1403

5 The Limited Role of the :\1onarch 14°5

6 Weak and Strong Parliaments, Negative and Positive Politics ]407

7 The Constitutional Weaknesses of the Reichstag and the Problem of

Leadership 1410

iii, THE RIGHT OF PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY AND THE

RECRlllTMENT OF POLITICAL LEADERS 1416

I Effective Supervision and the Power Basis of Bureaucracy 1417

2 Parliament as a Proving Ground for Political Leaders 1419

3 The Imponance of Parliamentary Committees in \.\Tar and Peace 1420

4 Domestic Crises and the Lack of Parliamentary Leadership 1424

5 Parliamentary Professionalism and thc Vested Interest, 1426

iv. BUREAUCRACY AND FOREIGN POLICY 1431

I TheC.<wemment·sFailuretoCurb 113rmful Monarchic

Pronoun:::cments 1431

"2 Parliamentary and Legal Safeguards 1438

v. PARLI.AMENTARY GOVERl'OMENT AND DEMOCRATIZATION 1442

1 Equal Suffrag~ and Parliamcntarism 1442

XXIV ANALYTICAL CONTENTS

2 The Impact of Democratization on Party Organization and Leadership 1443

3 Democratization and Demagoguery 1449

4 Plebiscitary Leadership and Parliamentary Control 1451

5 The Outlook for Effective Leadership in Postwar Germany 1459

List of Abbreviations

and in some cases complemented by.the editors; we also used som<o: of

Gesellschaft by Johannes Winckelmann The unsigned notes in Part

Max Rheinstein, and elsewhere byone of the editors as identified at thehead of each section of notes The following abbreviations were used to

identify the authors of other notes:

In the editorial notes, a number of abbreviations were used for works

AIS0'Archiv

Archiv fUr Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik Tiibingen: J C B

Moh, (Paul 5iebeck) (A scholarly periodical edited by Max Webe"

XXVI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

wissenschaften, 3rd ed., I (19°9), 52-ISS Reprinted in GAzSW,

I-288 (Page references are to,this reprint.)

Ancient JudaismorAJ

Ancient Jw:L:lism. Translated and edited by Hans H Gerth and Don

"Das antike Judentum," Part III of "Die Wirtsehaftsethik der religionen," first published in AfS, 19I7-19 and of a posthumouslypublished study, "Die Pharisiier:' both inGAzRS, III.)

Welt-Economic History

General Economic History. Translated by Frank H Knight London

and New York: Allen & Unwin, 1927; paperback re-issue, NewYork: Collier Books, 1961 (A translation of Wirtschaft~geschichte.

Page references in ch VIn are to the 1927 edition, elsewhere to the

1961 paperback.)

Fischoi~

The Sociology of Religion Translated by Ephraim Fischoff, with an

introduction by Talcott Parsons Boston: Beacon Press, 1963

CAzRS

Gesammelte Aufsiitze zur Religionssoziologie 3 vols Tubingen: J. C

B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1920-21; unchanged re-issue 1922-23

CAzSS

J:c. B Mohc (Paul Siebeek), '924

GAzSVl

Gesammelte Aufsiitze zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Tiibin-• gen: ].C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1924

GAzV/

Gesammelte Aufsiitze zur Wissenschaftslehre 2nd ed revised and

ex-panded by Johannes Winckelmann Tubingen: J C B Mohr (PaulSiebeck), 1951 (Isted 1922.)

Gerth and Mills

From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology Translated and edited by

:": Hans H Gerth and C.Wright Mills New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1946

CPS

Gesammelte Politische Schriften 2nd ed revised and expanded by

Johannes Winckelmann, with an introduction by Theodor Heuss.Tiibingen: J. C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1958 (1St ed Miinchen:Drei Masken Verlag, 1921.)

Handelsgesellschaften

Zur Geschichte tIer Handelsgesellschaften in MitteWter (Nach

List ofAbbrevi(1tiO"i:!.~ XXV I I

sudeuropiiischen Quellen). Stuttgart, Ferdinand Enke, 1889'

This wa:; 'Weber's first dissertation.)

p.rotestant Ethic

"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Ci4pitalism. Translated by

Scribner's Sons, 1958 (first pub! London, 1930) (A translation of

"Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist cl."'5 Kapitalismus," GAzRS,

Rechtssoziologie

Rechtssoziologie Newly edited from the manuscript with an

intro-duction by Johannes Wincke1mann ("Soziologische Texte," vol 2.)

(This is the German edition of the "Sociology of Law" underlyingthe revised translation in Part Two, ch -YIII, below.)

Religion of China

The Religion of China Confucianism and Taoism. Translated and

translation of "Konfuzianismus und TaoislUus," Part I of "Die

Religi01J of India

The Religion of India The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Translated and edited by Hans H Gerth and Don Martindale

und Buddhismus," Part II of "Die vVirlSChaftsethik der

Rheinstein and Shils

Max Weber on Law in Economy and SOciety. Translated by Edward, Shih and Max Rheinstein, edited and annotated by Rheinstein Cam-bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 195"4-

Shils and Finch

The Methodology of the Socia! Sciences. Translated and edited by

1949· (A translation of three methodological essays, "Die 'Objektivitiit'

"Kritische Studien auf clem Gebiet kulturwissenschaftlicher Logik,"

146-214, 215-29°,475-526.)

~x V I I I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Theory

The Theory of Social and Economic Organi"'lion. Translated by

Oxfom University Press, 1947)

Wirf.Sch·aftsges~hichteor Universalgeschichte

Wirtschaftsgeschichte AbrisstIeruniversalen SozUU- und geschichte. Edited from lecmre scripts by Siegmund Hellmann and

WuC and WuC-Smdienausgabe

Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Crundriss tIer verstehenden Soziologie.

Winckelmann's further revisions for the forthcoming definitive 5th

Priface to the 1978 Re-issue

Aftzr several yeats of being "'1' of print, during wlUch time it rapidly

paper-back, thanks to thecooperation ofthe American puhlishen who have '"J'8'

The pxesmt le-issue is identical with our zg68 edition, although

some-errata are eliminated In the meantime, Professor Johannes Winckelmann

has completed his fifth and linal editi"" with tIuee hundrad pall" <i an·

prepaUd the;, own editi"", they cooperated c1coe1y with WmCldmann m

in identifying literatyand historical teferences, but unfortunately, the newannotationsofthelifthedition c·:>uld not beincluded:in thepresentEnglish

Ie-issue

Severalimportant Weber translations have appeared Since 1968 EdithE.GraberlDnSIated Weber, essay "On Some Caiegoties of Inte'l"etive Soci·ology" (MA thos;" Depanment of Sociology, Univenity of Oklahoma,

Append;x ~ was • hagmentary fitst draft of \he aeneraI conceptwol und",·

Just be!oteconceivbtg the idea of &onomyand Society Wehetlin;,hed hi,great encyclopedic essay on the economic and political history of antiquity

Ec.onomr tmd Society in the introduction (xlii-lvii), has now been

[xxix]

x x X PreflUetothe 1978He-issue

been translated Guy Oakes translated and edited .Roscher and Knies: The

19"16) and Critique of Stammler (New York: The Free Press, 1977) An

excursus on the Stammler critique is found in Economy and Society, pp.

3J.;~32 below Oakes has also translated and edited Georg Simmel's The

Problems of the Philosophy of History (New York: The Free Press, 1977)

to which Weber refers in his prefatory note to eh I, p 3 below LouisSchneider translated ''Marginal Utility Theory and the So-Called Funda-mentalLawof Psychophysics," Social Science Quarterly, 56:I, 1975' 2.1-36

'Ibis leaves untranslated only Weber's demolition of the "energeticist"theories of culrure of the famed chemist and natural philosopher Wilhelm

his subf:tantive writings.

The 1968 introduction by Roth was intended in part as a supplement to

Reinhard Bendix's MtlX' Weber: An Intelle{'t~t(jlportrait (I¢lo), which forthefirst time presented comprehensively the substance of Weber's campon-tive sociology of politics, law and :religion as it is found in Economy (nul Society and the Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion (containingthe studies of the Protestant ethic and sects in relativD toth(' spirit of capi-talism and in contrast to the reli~ous and social order of China, India andAncient Judaism) This well-known study too was re-issuec in 1978 by theUniversity of California Press with a new introduction by Roth, whichcovers theWeber liters.rure accumulated since Is,>OO.One f~.\ftheryield fromBendix's and Roth's concern with Weber was a joint volume, Sclwlarship and Partisanship, also published by the University of California Press in 197I.Moreover, Roth has continued his methodological exploration of Eccmomy

and Societyinthree other essays, ''Soci(}-Historica1 Model and DevelopmentalTheory," American Sociological Renew, 4°:2, AprO 75, 148-57; "Historyand Sociology," British Journal of Sociology, 27:3, Sept 76, 306-18; and

"Religion and Revolutionary Beliefs," Social Fcm:es, 55:2, Dec 76, 2.57-72

Dokumentation tier Sekundiirliterat'Ur (Stuttgart; Enke, 1977), 2.08 pp For

Forthepresent re-issuetheeditorsaregreatly indebtedtotheun8agginginterestand effortsofMr.Grant Barnes ofthe Universityof CaliforniaPress

and to the support of Mr Georg Siebeck, of the finn of Mohr-Siebeck in

Tiibingen, the German publisher of Weber's works

Finally, we dedicate with sorrow this edition to the memory of CarolynCain Roth (1934-197;), who for several years lived with the burden of ourintense labors, showing great forebearance and retaining the salutary dis-

tance of an artistic vision, which should always balance the sober concerns

ofscholarship

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASHINGTON

Scarsdale, New York

February 1977

Guenther Roth Claus Wittich

All hitherto unavailable chapters and sections have been translated andthe annotation has been considerably expanded The Appendix contains

a brief terminological supplement and one of Weber's major politicalessays All previously translated parts used here have been thoroughlyrevised and many passages hnve been rewritten The original translators

ver-sion of their work We would like to thank Ephraim Fischoff for goingover our revision of his translation of the "Sociology of Religion" (PartTwo, ch VI) and for making further suggestions and offering other

version

A number of extant translations were completely replaced: in PartOne, ch IV, "Status Groups and Classes"; in Part Two, ch 111:3, "TheRegulation of Sexual Relations in the Household," ch IV: 3, "TheOikos," ch XIV:i-ii, "Charisma and Its Transformations," and ch XVI,

"The City." This last book-length chapter was newly translated by

of translation is explained in the Introduction

Gesellschaft have been used and revised with the permission of the

publishers, which is gratefully acknowledged

Press, 1963), pp 1-274;-now Part Two, ch VI;

Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp.

159-244, 253-262; now Part Two, chs IX: 3-6, XI, and XIV:iii;Ferdinand Kolegar, trans., 'The Household Community" and "Ethnic

[xxxi]

XXXp PREFACE

York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1961), vol I, pp. 296 298,

302-309; now Part Two, ch III:I.ch IV:2,and ch V:2;

Theory of Social and Economic Organization (New York: The Free

Press of Glencoe, 1964; originally published by Oxford University

Weber on Law in Economy and Society (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard

VII-VIII,ch IX,1-2,and ch X.

\Vithout the dedication and hard labor of the previous translatorsthe present edition might never have been undertaken Hans Gerth, whospent a singular amount of time on the translation of Weber's works, de-

Weber's thought has dearly been made by Talcott Parsons' translationsand writings

Our special gratitude goes to Prof Johannes Winckelmann, theGerman editor of Weber's works and head of the Max Weber Institute

at the University of Munich, who gave us access to his text revisions for

the forthcomiilg 5th edition of Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft and always

freely shared his thoughts on textual and other problems

scholarship and entrepreneurship; he held out the challenge, patiently

We are also grateful to Mr Robert Palmer for preparing the index 'and

to Mr Sidney Solomon of the Free Press for supervising the technicalpreparation of the work and for designing the volumes

BERLIN AND NEW YORK

Guenther Roth

Claus Wittich

We know ofnoscientifically ascertainable ideals To be sure, thaf makes

OUT efforts moreard~ than those of the past, since we are expecud to

create our ideals from \lAthin OUT breast in the very age of subjectivist culture; hut we must not and cannot promise a 'fool's paradise and an easy road toit, neither in thought 1101' in action It is the stigma of our human dignity that the peaceofour souls cannot be as great as the peace

ofone who dreams of such a paradise.

Weber in 1909

1. A Claim

has become a' constitutive part of the sociological imagination as it isunderstood Kday Economy and Society was the first strictly empirical

wmrari~.on of $<x:iaJ structure and normative order in world-historical

remained speculative evej~ as they claimed to establish a science of

society

Decades have passoo since the manuscript was begun and left finished, yet few works in the realm~fsocial science have aged so little.lts impact has been consideraMe over ,the years, although in a frag-mented and ~rratic fashion as the various parts became available onlypiecemeal to the English reader or rema'ined altogether out of reach.Weber's ideas on social action and sociological typology, Oli.trumentaland substantive rationality, on formal and material justi,ee;-iJn bureauc-racy and charisma, on religious beliefs jlind economic cond.uct, have beengradually assimilated by social scientists-by way of :lCt'Urate reception,imaginative adaptation and, not too infrequently, inventive misinterpreta-

The renaissance of comparative study in the nineteen-sixties has ,, 'restored some of the original intellectual setting of Economy and Society.

[xnill]

XXXIV INfRODUCllON

,

This has given a new pertinency to the work and is One reason for thecomplete English edition; another is the hoped-for correction of the un-even in8uence exerted by the isolated parts Now the work has a fairchance tobe understood as a whole, and its readers have a better oppor-tunity to comprehend it-this willbea test for both

Economyand Society is Weber's only major didactic treatise It wasmeant to be merely an introduction, but in its own way it is the mostdemanding "text" yet written by a sociologist The precision of its defmi-

for his sense of society, for the graduate student who must develop hisown analytical skills, and for the scholar who must match wits withWeber

Economy and Society is part of the body of knowledge on whichWeber drew in his unwitting testament, his speeches on "Science as aVocation" and '.'Politics as a Vocation," which he delivered shortly afterthe end of the first World War before a small number of politicallybewildered Students By now thousands of students have read these tworhetorical masterpieces with their poignant synopsis of his philosophicaland political outlook as well as of his scholarly animus Yet the verycompactness ofthe two speeches impedes easy comprehension Economy and Society elaborates much that is barely visible in them However, it-minimizes the propagation of Weber's own philosophical and politicalviews, since it wants to establish a common ground for empirical investi-gation on which men of different persuasions can stand; in contrast tosome of the methodological polemics, Economy and SOciety is meant toset a positive example Yet there is more to it than is readily apparent.The work contains a theory of the possibilities and limitations of politicaldemocracy in an industrialized and"bureaucratized society, a theory thatWeber considered not only empirically valid but politically realistic asagainst a host of political isms: romanticist nationalism, agrarianism,corporate statism, syndicalism, anarchism, and the Marxism of the time.Hence, there is in the work an irreducible element of what Weber con-sidered political cowmon sense, but this does not vitiate the relativevalue-neutrality of the conceptual structure Moreover, the work is full

of irony, sarcasm and the love of paradox; a dead-pan expression mayimply a swipe at the Kaiser, status-eonscious professors or pretentious

litterateurs l And finally, with all its seemingly static typologies, the

.1 Ironic formulations and wordplays are hard to render in translation, and

it would have heen self-defeatingpedantry to explain more than a fraction in the edit,)rial nces,

Economy and Society builds a sociological scaffolding for raising

tenable answers to those questions than had been given previously Hebelonged to the small number of concerned men who shared neither the;wide-spread belief in Progress, which was about to be shattered by thefirst World War, nor the new philosophical irrationalism, which hadbegun to appeal to many younger men

Weber's image of "economy and society" is so widely shared today

formulation it no longer appears exceptional, unless we remember thatIt'drew the lines against Social Darnrinism, Marxism and other isms ofthe time Weber rejected the prevalent evolutionary and mono-causaltheories, whether idealist or materialist, mechanistic or organicist; he'"fought both the reductionism of social scientists and the surface approach

the ingrained aversion against historically transcendent concepts He took

if variable determinants and that society was an arena for group Riets He did not believe, however, in the laws of class struggle, jungle

con-or race; rather, h,e saw men struggle most of the time under createdJaws and within established organizations Given the incomplete recep-tion of his work, the roles he attributed to force and legitimacy have

that men act as they do because of belief in authority, enforcement by

Weber was not much interested in master-key statements on the nature:

formelbediirfnis). Unlike Engels, he saw no grounds for assuming an'

sociological theory and historical generalization

2. Cf I. Roscher una Knies una die logischen Probleme tier hisknischen NationalOkonomie (1903/6), 145 pp.; 2 Die "ObjeItttvUat' sozi4lwissenschaft-

Society he focussed on those concepts and typologies thatwould direcdyaid the researcher He developed his sociological theory-his Kategorien" lehre, as he sometimes called it-as an open-ended yet logically con-

sistent fonnulation of fundamental aspects of social action, on the one

on the other The construction of such trans-epochal and tran~ltural

types as, for example, enterprise and ailtos or bureaucracy and

hieroc-racy makes sociological theory historically comparative In this waysociological theory provides thp researcher with thedimensional concepts

and empirical types that,a~ prerequisites for the kind of comparativemental experiment and imaginative extrapolation without which causal

explanation is impossible in history

Weber's sociological theory, then, grewout of wide-ranging historical

research and was meant to be applied again to hist9ry, past and in themaking In addition to theory in this generically historical sense, he em-ployed substantive theories of differing degrees of historical speci6city:

I. Theories explaining a relatively homogeneous historical tion ("individual ideal type"), such as the spirit of capitalism;

configura-2. Theories about relatively heterogeneous, but historically related con6gurations, such as the "economic theory of the ancient states

inter-of the Mediterranean";

3 Theories ("rules of experience") that amount to a summary of

a number of historical constellations, without being testable propositions

in the strict sense: for' example, the observation that foreign conquerors and native priests have fonned alliantes, or that refonn-minded monksand secular rulers have at times cooperated in spite of their ineradk-ableantagonism The occurrence~Ofthe fonner kind of collaboration, as inancient Judaism, or its failUfC to about in HeIlas, due to the battle

at Marathon,a may have far , ' g historical consequences one son for th,e scholar's interest in ,historical "summaries."

rea-licher lmd sozialpolinscher Er.ltenntnis~~~9o-4)' 68 pp.; 3· Kritische Studien tn"

dem"thiet der 1c.vlturwissensclwftltc;i.en Logi.lt (190S), 75 pp.; -4 Stammlm

"O~dung"tierntaUrialisrischen Geschichwuffammg (1907), 68 pp., with

• pOIthumously published postscript (2.0 pp.); S. Die GrenZ1lutzlehre und das f4"sychophyMschlll GrundglUetz" (1908), IS"pp.; 6. "Energensche" KultlIrtheorien

(1909), 2.6 pp.; 7. Obet' den Sinn der 'Wertfnihei-t" der soziologischen "nd okonomiunen Wissenschaft4n (1917/18), prepared as a memorandum lor a meeting of theVenin fUr Sorialpolitik in -1913 All are reprinted in GAzW (for

this and other abbreviations used for Weber's works, see the list following Ihis Introduction) 'For English ,versionsof essays 2., 3, and 7, see Max Weber, The

Methodolo81oftM Social Sciences (Edward A Shils and Henry A Finch, trans and eds.; Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 19-49)'

3 On the battle of Marathon and the category of objective possibility, d.Weber in Shils and Finch Ceds.),Methodolo!:y •• , 17-4.

/'

i

INTRODUCTION

2 ] Comparativ.~SociologicalStudy XXXV II

re-mains "theoretical" in that it subsumes many discrete actions and is

merely plausible, because unverifiable in the manner of the experimental

sciences Weber was acutely aware of this difficulty, which was bated bythe scarcity and unreliability of the sources in most areas of hisinvestigations, ancient and modem

exacer-Sociologists live, and suffer, from their dual task: to develop eralizations and to explain particular qses. This is the raison d' etre ofsociology as well as its inherent tension It would be incompatible with

gen-the spirit of Weber's approach to value gen-the transhistorical ist") generalizations of any fonnal sociological theory more highly thanthe competent analysis of a major historical phenomenon with the help

("functional-of a fitting typology, The sociology of Economy and Society is "Clio'shandmaiden"; the purpose of comparative study is the explanation of agi"en historical problem, Analogies and parallels, which at the timetended tobe used for evolutionary and morphological constructions andspurious causal interpretations, had for Weber merely instrumental

, pu'pos."

Whoever does not seetheexclusive task of "history" in making itself

superfluous through the demonstration that "evel')'thing has happened

before" and that all, or almost all, differences are matters of degree-anobvious truth-will put thestress on the changes (\/enchiebungen) that

emerge in spite of all parallels and will use the similarities only to

establish the distinctiveness (Eigenart) vis-a.-vis each other of the twoorbits [Le" the ancient and the medieval] , , A genuinely critical

comparison of the developmental stages of the ancient polis and themedieval city would be rewarding and fruitful but only if such acomparison does not chase after "analogies" and "parallels" in themanner ofthe presendy fashionable general schemesofdevelopment; inother words, it should be concerned with the distinctiveness of each

ofthetwo developments that were finally so different, and the purpose

of the comparison must be the causal explanation of the difference, It

remains true, of course, that this causal explanation requires as anindispensable preparation the isolation (that means, abstraction) of theindividual components ofthecourseofevents, and for each componentthe orientation toward rules ofexperience and the fonnulation ofdear

concepts without wh.iCh causal attribution is nowhere possible Thisshould be taken into account especially in the economic field in whichinadequate conceptual precision can produce the most distorted evalu-ations,·

Weber had in mind men like Wilhelm Roscher, Ranke's pupil, for

whom

4. "Agrarverhalmisse im Altertum," in GAzSW, 257, 288. (Cf, below, n.17·)

XXXVIII INTRODUCTION

".

peoples are "generic biological entities"-as Hintze put it quite guately Roscher has explicitly stated that for science the development

ade-ofpeoples is in principle always the same, and in spite of appearances to

the contrary in truth nothing new happens under the sun, but alwaysthe old with "random" and hence scientilically irrelevant admixtures

This obviously is a specifically "scientific" (natuTWissenschaftliche)

perspective.s

Weber's comparative approach was directed against theories of torical sameness as well as theories of universal stages He opposed inparticular the interpretation of Antiquity, including ancient capitalism,

"re-alistic" historians reacting against the humanist tradition with itsidealization of classic Greece and Rome Weber equally rejected thecontemporary stage theories of rural and urban economic development

He, too, believed ina "general cultural development," but he focussed

on the dynamics of speci6c historical phenomena, their development aswell as their decline For this purpose he employed several comparativedevices (which will be illustrated below, p xliii); (a) the identi6cation

of similarities as a 6rst step in causal explanation; (b) the negative parison; (c) the illustrative analogy; (d) the metaphorical analogy.The ideal type too has a comparative purpose It was Weber's solu-tion to the old issue of conceptual realism versus nominalism, but in thecontext of the time it was his primary answer to the scienti6c notion oflaw and to the evolutionary stage theories Weber wrote much more onthe logical status of the ideal type than on his comparative strategy Thisimbalance is reRected in the literature; a great deal has been writtenabout the ideal type, but very little that is pertinent to the art of com-parative study.Ashistorical "summaries" of varying degrees of speci6city,ideal types are compared with slices of histOrical reality.6 For the re-

com-searcher the issue is not whether the ideal type is less "real" than otherhistorical concepts; rather, his task consists in choosing the level of con-ceptual -specificity appropriate for the problem at hand Weber's idealtypes, as the reader can himself see, involve a theory about the dynamicsand alternative courses of the phenomena involved They are not meant

5 "Roscher und Knies ," inGAzW,::l.3·

6 "All expositions for example of the 'essence'ofChristianity are ideal types enjoying only a necessarily very relative and problematic validity when they are intended as the historical portrayal of facts. On the other hand, such presenta- tions are of great value for research and of high systematic value for expository

purposes when they are used as conceptual instruments for comparison and the

measurementofreality They are indiSpensable for this purpose." Weber in Shils and Finch (eds.),Methodology ,97·

2 ] Comparative Sociological Study XX X I X

to fit an ev01utionary scheme, but they do have a developmental

Ideal types are constructed with the help of historical rules of perience, which are used as heuristic propositions For example, Weber'stheory of monarchy includes the observation that monarchs throughout

usually remain important to the maintenance of, monarchic power andlegitimacy Hence, the stability of monarchy rests in part on the ruler's

(Part Two, ch XII below) emerges

Weber's comparative strategy was directed toward establishing, with

exploration of secular phenorrlena that had "dropped out" of history (forexample, ancient capitalism) but that were culturally important in them-selves or useful for identifying modernity; it also involved the searchfor the "causal chains" of history

In the absence of a reductionist one-factor scheme and of historical

"one-way streets," the relationship of economy, society and polity came for Weber a multi-faceted set of problems encompassing the inter-

civil and military administration, and religious and secular ideology

speeti\'(; too led Weber to a comparative interest in the workings ofcivilizations

Such a comprehensive program of research required broad knowledge

Society rests on a large body of scholarly literature, butalsoon Weber'sprevious research In drawing on historical sources and secondary liter-ature, Weber had an advantage over those historians whose training hadbeen mainly philosophical and philological, partly because he was atrained jurist and economist, partly because he had developed a sociologi-

secondary literature

compass Weber's previous research and writings and perceive the doselinks Since Weber rendered no systematic account of his strategy

I.I

to the writing of Economy and Society. it appears worthwhile to trace

here the methodological and substantive lines of reasoning that

con-verge in the later work; since almost all of the earlier writings areuntranslated, they willbequoted more extensively than would otherwise

be desirable.1

3 The Legal Forms of Medieval Trading Enterprises

Even for a man of Weber's generationitwas rare to gain competence

as historian of both Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and then to bine this with the study of contemporary concems industrialization,bureaucratization, democratization Weber began his career in legal andeconomic history as botha "Romanist" and "Gennanist"; he transcended

he emulated the tremendous learning of an Otto Gierke, but he wasout of sympathy with the persistent inclination of the Germanisls toreduce European history to the dichotomy of Romanized authoritarianorganization (Herrschaftsverband) and Germanic egalitarian association

CGenossenschaf')·

From the beginning of his academic career Weber addressed himself

to two broad historical questions: The origins and nature of (I) cap"italism in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and mode:'n times, (2) politicaldominario; and social stratification in the three ages His dissertation of

18139 dealt with legal institutions of medieval~pitalism, hisHabilitation,

of 1891 (that is, the second doctorate required for academic teaching)with the relationship between Roman politics and capitalism

The dissertation was a "Gennanist" study, On the History of the Medieval Trading Companies, written under Levin Goldschmidt.8Based largely on printed Italian and Spanish sources, it dealt withvarious fonns of limited and unlimited partnership that emerged withthe revival of maritime and inland trade and urb2n croft production.,'" 7 In the following attention will be given particularly to those studies that were omitted in Reinhard Bendix, Max WeJ,er: Aft IfttellectU41 Portrait (NewYork: Doubleday, 1960), Anchor edition, xxiii; see cbs I lind II on Weber's early activities, his scholarly and political response to the problems of industrialization

in Germany, especially the agrarian issue in Prussia east of the Elbe river (East Elbia) The present introduction is an effort to supplement Bendix' work and the introduction by Hans Gerth and C Wright Mills in FrOfPl Max Weber: Essays

in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Pte5II, 1946).

8 ZvrGesehichre der HandelsgeseIlschaftenim Mitte1alte,(Nach ~ro­

piiischen Quellen) (Stuttgart: Enlte 1889) reprinted in GAzSW, ~n-443·