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The Methodology of the Social Sciences – Max Weber (1864-1920)
‘All Knowledge of Cultural Reality…is always knowledgeable from particular points of view’ Max Weber
‘There is no such thing as a collective personality which acts’ Max Weber
Max Weber’s political sociology was greatly influenced by the collective ideas of the “German School”, which was at the height of its global influence throughout his life. The Methodology of the Social Sciences is written essentially as a reaction to the theories of Marx, with Weber’s main sociological critique of Marx being that he offered single-cause theories on social life. ... Weber begins by introducing the concept of verstehen , the notion that ‘facts’ and ‘values’ must be separated in order to conduct objective analysis. ‘The ideals we introduce into the subject matter of our science are not peculiar to it, nor are they produced by the science itself’ , values for Weber, as Steve Hoenisch notes ‘stand above the subject matter and are of a higher order’ , but claims Weber, ‘our aim is the understanding of the characteristic uniqueness of the reality in which we move. ... Moreover, ‘once a value has been established a social scientist can conduct a value free investigation into the most effective means of bringing about the established end’ . This, Weber contends will promote ‘intellectual honesty’ . ... However, as Talcott Parsons identifies, Weber does not seek to explain the complete ontological reality of the Phenomena by relating a general historical context to his study and he attacks the view of positivists that the world can only be studied through a strict prognostic ‘order of nature’ approach.
Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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