Weber's Concept Of Modern Society example essay topic

Weber destabilizes the relationship between base and superstructure that Marx had established. According to Weber, the concept of historical materialism is na " ive and nonsense because superstructures are not mere reflections of the economic base. ("The Protestant Ethic" and "The Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5) Weber agrees that the economy is one of the most faithful forces in modern life. However there are other social and legal factors which exhibit power and thus influence society. These factors help define bureaucratic society or Weber's concept of modern society which operates through the rational administration of labor.

According to Weber, the condition of modern society is disenchantment, which, through rationalization (division of labor), worldly activity is no longer motivated by cultural or spiritual values (meaning) but is instead motivated by economic impulsion. Ironically though, Weber attributes religious aestheticism (meaning) to the root of rationalization, and once mechanism (capitalism) takes off on its own, that religious root is no longer needed to justify work. Thus, mechanized petrification emerges, leaving hardly any room for spontaneity, with a few exceptions. In establishing a definition of modern society, Weber, unlike Marx, acknowledges that certain ideas can have great influence on material conditions. He suggests a more complex, dynamic relationship between economy and superstructure.

Human activity is motivated by reasons other than just capitalist consumption. For example, many people act based on meaning, such as religious or spiritual. Values shape how people live. Weber accuses Marx of being an economic determinist for believing that the mode of production is the only force that moves the base. Weber believes that social and legal factors such as status, class, party, and the division of social honor from economic order in addition to the economy influence modern society, which, according to Weber, is a bureaucracy organized through the rational administration of labor. Weber believes that human history has been the progressive rationalization of life (modernity).

The increased rationalism (measuring / controlling the labor process, ie: assembly line) based on logic and calculations instead of traditions, heart, and feeling of modernity lead to disenchantment, excluding any spontaneity, feeling, or passion. According to Weber, the rational mode of administration (Bureaucracy), that defines modern life, is superior to all other forms of administration, as Marx's machine production (mode of production) is superior to handicraft methods. It yields optimal functional performance, with every part contributing to the whole (universal purpose). Bureaucracy encompasses an elaborate hierarchical division of labor (power administered from top to bottom) directed by precise rules impersonally applied, staffed by full-time, life-time, professionals, who do not own the 'means of administration', or their jobs, or the sources of their funds, and live off a salary, not from income derived directly from the performance of their job.

Employees use discretion only within delegated limits, and the data of the organization becomes independent of those who originally made the decisions. The one disadvantage of bureaucracy though is that it has led to the depersonalization of the modern world, excluding anything irrational, incalculable, or passion driven. This depersonalization and disenchantment can be compared to Marx's concept of alienation. Weber uses the analogy of the iron cage to describe the spiritual root of rationalization and disenchantment that are present in a bureaucracy.

The iron cage is a bureaucracy, in which the bird (religion, spirit, feeling) is trapped until it escapes the cage, resulting in disenchantment. The spirit of religious asceticism escapes from the cage because the rational world no longer needs a religious foundation; it has become an independent mechanism of coercion. The reason that society obtained a rational form of capitalism was through the inner-worldly asceticism of the Protestant ethic. In the advent of the Reformation (The calling) and Calvinism (Predestination), concepts such as the calling and predestination applied reason and brought religious significance to one's work.

If the calling is one's particular occupation, then one must work whole-heartedly to attain a state of grace. People are predestined and cannot be brought to their fate by force. They are prepared to do what they have been predestined for. This religious aestheticism left the monasteries to dominate the world.

Here, the base of the mode of production is morality (religion). Unlike Catholicism, Protestantism reflects an individuality or loneliness in which the relationship with God is direct and not mediated through a priest. Therefore, each person is on his / her own, and the degradation of the flesh is feared because it indicates that one is not in a state of grace. Capital is no longer accumulated to possess pleasurable delights, but to attain holiness and rigor in one's life. So instead of capital being squandered on life's pleasures, capital could be reinvested, resulting in modern, rational capitalism. Thus, the Protestant ethic motivates people to work hard for a state of grace, proving that ideas can push people into certain ways of behavior, discrediting Marx's model in which religion is completely excluded and instead the ruling class (bourgeoisie) is credited for remodeling the world.

This notion plays right into the hands of capitalist society, because eventually this spiritual ethic blends very nicely with the work ethic. Eventually capitalism becomes so powerful and mechanical that it no longer relies on Protestant aestheticism in order to motivate people to work. As a result, the Protestant ethic becomes the work ethic and is secularized, contributing to the creation of the cosmos of economic order. So instead of a religious / spiritual hierarchy with an ultimate goal of reaching heaven, there is an economic hierarchy with the universal desire to attain power. This rational mode of administration eventually leads to disenchantment in a modern world, in such a way that all things become subject to abstraction and calcul ability. Both being conflict theorists, Marx and Weber agree that society is organized in terms of power relations.

However they differ on what kinds of power it is that shapes the world. For Marx, it is the economy. For Weber, it is not only the economy but several other interfering factors such as status, class, party, and the division of social honor from economic order. He believes that people seek power even if they don't seek economic rewards. Often it is concerned with the need for status (social honor or prestige). A person's class is a function of their economic power or lack of power.

Weber doubted the occurrence of the Proletariat revolution that Marx had foreshadowed because class separations, he believed, were a lot more complex than just the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. Party is a grouping for the exercise of political power. The ability to exercise power is the ability to get your own way with others, regardless of their ability to resist you. Weber does not think that status and political power are reducible to class. The ability to attain power derives from the individual's ability to control various 'social resources' (socially desirable and not accessible to everyone), such as social respect, intellectual knowledge, land, capital, physical strength, etc.

So Weber disagrees with Marx that the only way to attain power or status is through class or economic capital. Assets such as talent and intelligence can be used to promote one's status. An influential politician, for example, has a lot of power not because he has money, but because his decisions impact society at large and play a very important role in governing the lives of others. Weber notes that although bureaucratic rationalization has disenchanted the world and its endurance seems inevitable, the spirit has not been completely eradicated. Weber believes that as an advanced society we cannot escape the pattern of rational rules and laws. However, he allows for the arrival of prophets or charismatic people from time to time, those who exhibit good rational administration skills as well as heart and passion.

While offering no clear solution, Weber leaves us with an optimistic hope for the future and inspiration, perhaps, to emulate those extraordinary leaders of our time.