Max Weber was a sociologist who argued that social action was a needed component in life and he was one of the founders of the term “sociology”. Max Weber defines society to be sciences of methods and science of meaning and interpretations. Weber mainly argued that social action was needed in society to communicate and to interact with others. Social action means, “ that there is an action and from that a reaction is formed”. In his writing’s Weber points out that in order to understand what social action is, you first have to figure out what casual relationships are. For example if you call on someone, you expect a response from that person due to what we expect in society.
Max Weber throughout his writings points out that there are four different forms of social action. The first form is, instrumental, and that form maximizes satisfaction. For example figuring out how to gain money in faster terms. The second form of social action is value national, and that is an effective and efficient way to maximize value. The third form of social action is, emotional, and that means having a meaning in life. The forth and last form of social action that Weber writes about is, a habitual or traditional, and that means accepting things just how they are.
Max Weber and Karl Marx have similar ideas when it comes to social life such as about the labor market and how it defines class. But, they also have conflicting ideas, for example Weber talks about Class, status, and party while Marx is more concerned with the owners of production and the workers. Also Weber points out a relationship between class versus status while Marx talks about the workers and owners. Max Weber talks about “ class” in terms of an economic prospects and the life chances and individual has to attain resources. Also he writes about “ status” in terms of a consumption position and gaining social prestige. Some people that are similar to gaining social prestige are church nuns and priests. Weber points out a huge difference between class and status and that is, a “ class” is not a community, while a status is part of a community of members. Weber also writes about a “ party” and that is a sphere of power. He mentions how these parties are highly organized and their common goal is to compose a parties rules on the society and its environment.
Another thing about Max Weber that Ritzier writes about in the paper is how to understand societies phenomena’s. He talks about a term called, “ verstehen”. This word is defined as understanding someone or something while being an outside source and analyzing their actions. An example of this is, a news reporter since they report on other people’s actions such as, crimes and sports. Another idea that Ritzier mentions was the “ideal type” phenomenon. This term is easily defined as characteristics about a social phenomenon, and everyone has characteristics and ideas of how things should look like. For example, in class, Mr. Zopf drew an item on the board; some people thought that it was a chair while others characterized it as the letter H.
Social action and ideal types are part of the everyday world that we live in. An interesting event is about to happen in Sochi, Russia and that is the Olympic games. I read an article on the daily beast titled, “ Terrorists could already be inside Sochi”, by Jacob Siegel. The article talks about how the Olympic committee is preparing to keep everyone safe and the things they are doing to do that. Since there is a threat of a bombing and terrorists attack, Russian operations are having a big security crackdown. For example, they will have over 40,000 security forces in the city of Sochi. This is a form of Weber’s social action because there was a call for help (terrorist attack/bombing) and the response was a crackdown on the city and supposedly the Russian police killed the person who was in charge of the bombing plans in a shootout. Another Weber’s idea that I analyzed while reading this article was the idea of an “ideal type”. Everyone has characteristics of what and who an terrorist is. Many people, especially in the United States, Russian operations, and the writer of the article figured that the bombing’s were prepared by the Muslim community. In the article the author writes about some crackdowns that are happening to ensure safety in the games and one of the crackdowns was on the Muslim community and no other communities at all. Since myself am a Muslim, I feel offended when the first people who are called terrorists, are the Muslims. People think that terrorists look Middle Eastern and are Muslim, due to what the media tells the public, and the characteristics people have of Muslims.
LINK TO THE ARTICLE ABOVE THAT WAS MENTIONED: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/06/terrorists-could-already-be-inside-sochi.html
Max Weber throughout his writings points out that there are four different forms of social action. The first form is, instrumental, and that form maximizes satisfaction. For example figuring out how to gain money in faster terms. The second form of social action is value national, and that is an effective and efficient way to maximize value. The third form of social action is, emotional, and that means having a meaning in life. The forth and last form of social action that Weber writes about is, a habitual or traditional, and that means accepting things just how they are.
Max Weber and Karl Marx have similar ideas when it comes to social life such as about the labor market and how it defines class. But, they also have conflicting ideas, for example Weber talks about Class, status, and party while Marx is more concerned with the owners of production and the workers. Also Weber points out a relationship between class versus status while Marx talks about the workers and owners. Max Weber talks about “ class” in terms of an economic prospects and the life chances and individual has to attain resources. Also he writes about “ status” in terms of a consumption position and gaining social prestige. Some people that are similar to gaining social prestige are church nuns and priests. Weber points out a huge difference between class and status and that is, a “ class” is not a community, while a status is part of a community of members. Weber also writes about a “ party” and that is a sphere of power. He mentions how these parties are highly organized and their common goal is to compose a parties rules on the society and its environment.
Another thing about Max Weber that Ritzier writes about in the paper is how to understand societies phenomena’s. He talks about a term called, “ verstehen”. This word is defined as understanding someone or something while being an outside source and analyzing their actions. An example of this is, a news reporter since they report on other people’s actions such as, crimes and sports. Another idea that Ritzier mentions was the “ideal type” phenomenon. This term is easily defined as characteristics about a social phenomenon, and everyone has characteristics and ideas of how things should look like. For example, in class, Mr. Zopf drew an item on the board; some people thought that it was a chair while others characterized it as the letter H.
Social action and ideal types are part of the everyday world that we live in. An interesting event is about to happen in Sochi, Russia and that is the Olympic games. I read an article on the daily beast titled, “ Terrorists could already be inside Sochi”, by Jacob Siegel. The article talks about how the Olympic committee is preparing to keep everyone safe and the things they are doing to do that. Since there is a threat of a bombing and terrorists attack, Russian operations are having a big security crackdown. For example, they will have over 40,000 security forces in the city of Sochi. This is a form of Weber’s social action because there was a call for help (terrorist attack/bombing) and the response was a crackdown on the city and supposedly the Russian police killed the person who was in charge of the bombing plans in a shootout. Another Weber’s idea that I analyzed while reading this article was the idea of an “ideal type”. Everyone has characteristics of what and who an terrorist is. Many people, especially in the United States, Russian operations, and the writer of the article figured that the bombing’s were prepared by the Muslim community. In the article the author writes about some crackdowns that are happening to ensure safety in the games and one of the crackdowns was on the Muslim community and no other communities at all. Since myself am a Muslim, I feel offended when the first people who are called terrorists, are the Muslims. People think that terrorists look Middle Eastern and are Muslim, due to what the media tells the public, and the characteristics people have of Muslims.
LINK TO THE ARTICLE ABOVE THAT WAS MENTIONED: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/06/terrorists-could-already-be-inside-sochi.html