Max Weber Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Max Weber - Essay Example (Kilcullen, 1996) This important belief is said to have made the Calvinists quite anxious about their Salvation, and this led to the fact that they attempted to console themselves and get rid of their anxiety by making concerted attempts to succeed in all their economic and other undertakings. The widespread belief may have been that God would quite naturally demonstrate his favor by bestowing prosperity and wealth on the various enterprises and undertakings of the elect. In addition, no Calvinist believed in self indulgence, and this meant that all the finances generated and raised by their present undertakings would perforce be put back into future undertakings, or 'callings' as they were referred to, both by the employer as well as by the employee. The small reward that they expected was a mere earthly one, but this was sufficient for the Calvinist. (Kilcullen, 1996) It was also Max Weber's opinion that Protestant doctrines believed in the fact that men must accept a humbler sort of station in their lives, and that they must devote their energies into performing mundane tasks and duties. Weber also believed that since there was no hierarchical Church structure present, it meant that there would be no episodes of upward mobility and a need for acquisition. however, it was because of the 'work and save' ethic that was being followed by these people that the phenomenon of 'Capitalism' was brought into the picture, and since there is absolutely no doubt that a dedication and a devotion and a deep commitment towards one's work would inevitably bring forth the desired productivity, especially on the part of the Calvinists, who believed in the dedication to one's own 'beruf', or duty, or calling. (Max Weber, 1864 to 1920) It is widely acknowledged everywhere that Max Weber had an ingrained concept of 'rationality and rationalism' in all his works, and according to Rogers Brubaker, it was veritably a 'great unifying theme' in his work, even though it has been stated by some others that the concept was at times 'evasive'. It was Weber's opinion that the very history of 'rationalism' has revealed that it does not follow any type of parallel lines in life in general, and also that the very idea of rationality is both multi directional and multi dimensional. Rationality was, for Weber, the manifestation of individual freedoms, and also another meaning for conceptual lucidity, among various other meanings. (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) According to Max Weber, sociology as such meant that it was nothing but a 'comprehensive science of social action', and it must be also noted that most of Max Weber's ideals stem from the idea that human beings attach a great many subjective meanings to all their manifold actions and interactions within any specific social context. Therefore, in this context, rationality means that most human beings restlessly strive for a goal, which in itself may not be rational, but for which most people strive through rational means. As most people have diverse numbers of motivational factors, it would mean that most human behavior as such is caused by a mixture of all these motivations. This was in