Example Of Biography On Max Weber-Biography

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Max Weber was born on April 21, 1864 in Germany which was known as Erfurt, Prussia at that time. He developed the interest in sociology from his father who was a lawyer and was highly involved in life of public. Weber started his academic education in law from Heidelberg in year 1882 and with law he also acquired professional training as a historian, philosopher, and economist. He continued the study of law and history and in 1889, he wrote a dissertation through which he earned his doctorate in law. After receiving his doctorate, Weber decided to work as a privatdozent at the University of Berlin where he performed his duties as lecturer and consultant for the Government. This did not keep him from moving on, in 1894 (after marriage) he joined University of Freiburg as a professor of economics and in 1896 he joined University of Heidelberg.
He was also disturbed by the marital affairs between his parents during his early age. His father was a man who would fall for worldly pleasures whereas his mother was living an ascetic life. Weber was more tending towards his mother and had stressful quarrels with his father in case of any argument between his parents. After his father’s death in 1897, he had a nervous breakdown in 1898; this was due to the quarrel with his father. The nervous breakdown continued with depression, insomnia, and nervousness. These conditions made him unable to continue his professorship. Consequently, he left teaching in 1899. Later, he finally resigned from this profession in 1903. At the same time in 1903, he was appointed as the associate editor of the Archives of Social Science and Social Welfare. Weber’s interest was captivated by this new approach which led him to devise his own papers which got published in this journal.
Furthermore, in 1909, German Sociological Association was founded by Weber. In 1912, he made every possible step in order to unite the social liberals on one platform by organizing a left-wing political party. During World War I, he served as the reserve officer voluntarily and was in charge of the hospital organizations. He served this duty after the war till 1915. Weber argued the Germany’s annexationist extremely during his last years of life. He opposed the war goals of Germany and due to the assistance in the formation of the constitution; he got frustrated with politics. Therefore, he joined University again as the professor (Gerth & Mills, 2014).
The main contributions of Weber involve the concepts of a society. He made the people understand the social perspectives firmly. In a society, he evaluated the importance of the religion along with the class of the modern society. Although religion was associated with capitalism, but it was linked with the Protestantantism. Weber pointed out the social problems which are raised due to the class difference and difference in power and status among the people of the society. According to him, the class difference, status difference and difference in power in which the political individuals and bureaucratic individuals enjoys more power, leads to developing inequality among the people (Roberts, 2009).
According to Weber, bureaucracy is the main issue which hampers the modern society. He raised the problems associated with bureaucracy and mentioned that it favors the rational thinking. This rationality develops the concept of conducting things according to the ancestors instead of the way which can be more efficient.
Moreover, Weber introduced the concept of thinking and carry out an analysis of the attempts for the society as why we do it. In fact, the sociologists are concerned about the fact that what can be done but the arousal of why we act can answer the reasons for the action and its significance. All in all, Weber focused on the capitalism instead of the rationalism because he believed that it was the major constitute of the modern society.
Weber was keen concerned about the society and its betterment. Consequently, he proposed the theory of social actions. This theory included his thoughts regarding the actions which are intentional and has an effect o the society. In this theory, the main concentration was over the rational actions of the bureaucracy. Weber has also provided the theory of management which is also called as the bureaucratic management theory. In this theory, he described the requirement of a system which is based on the standard procedures and possessed the definite commands. The stress was put on the efficiency by him but also, the dangers of imposing technology were mentioned.
The writings of Weber includes his thesis which is very famous named as Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and was published in 1904. Moreover, other writings include; The City, The theory of Social and economic Organization, General Economic History, The Sociology of Religion, Essays in Sociology, The Methodology of Social Sciences, Basic Concepts in Sociology, Political Writings etc (Honigsheim, 2013).
In conclusion, Max Weber was the person who has been through many ups and down in his life yet he was capable of overcoming them. Moreover, Weber had understood the concepts and requisites of a society profoundly. Therefore, he was able to draw theories regarding the society. In order to improve the society and social values, the contribution and publications of Weber are remarkable and cannot be neglected. Furthermore, the issue of bureaucracy and its consequences are well defined by him. Ultimately, Weber is considered one of the founders of the sociology because he has provided his enormous and extensive efforts and thoughts in order to maintain the norms and values of a society.

Works Cited

Gerth, H. H., & Mills, C. W. (Eds.). (2014). From Max Weber: essays in sociology. Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9781134688944 on 15th February 2015.
Honigsheim, P. (2003). The Unknown Max Weber. Transaction publishers. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9781412840729 on 15th February 2015.
Roberts. K (2009). Key Concepts in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/?k=9781137066442 on 15th February 2015.