Max Weber (1864–1920) was a German academic and politician and one of the three or four founding fathers of sociology. In contrast to Durkheim and Marx he argued for a sociological position in which the inner feelings and self-perceptions of the actors themselves were part of the explanation of human behaviour. His most famous sociological work is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–05), in which he argued for a natural affinity between certain views of how heavenly salvation was to be earned and the technical requirements of capitalist economic development.
As far as politics is concerned he is important for two major doctrines. The most important is probably his theory of bureaucracy, which has been widely copied and developed, and still inspires most social science research on this vital phenomenon. But he was also the creator of a developmental theory of political change which suggested a move from charismatic authority (see charisma), via traditional authority to rational-legal authority, which has informed much of subsequent studies in social and political development.
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