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The book “Classical Social Theory: Investigation and Application” by Tim Delaney presents biographies and works of many scientists and philosophers who have been exploring sociological thought. It describes the life of each of the theorists, their contributions, and the influence of other scholars on their works. Chapter 7 of the book deals with the life and achievements of German sociologist Max Weber, one of the greatest sociologists of the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century. The book “Classical Social Theory: Investigation and Application” can be accessible to even a non-specialist who wishes to enhance his/her knowledge in the sphere of sociology; the chapter presenting the information about Max Weber describes some of the socialist’s concepts and contains a rather complicated section “Intellectual Influences”.
To begin with, the section “Intellectual Influences” may seem to be the most difficult, since it leaves the reader in thoughts. The section presents the theory of Auguste Comte, a French sociologist who worked out the term “sociology”. His theory of the “Hierarchy of Sciences” states that all the sciences are dependent upon each other with social sciences deriving from the natural ones.
The hierarchy goes from the simplest (which evolve the quickest) to the most complex forms of science. These are, from bottom to top: astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology. The sciences above others rely on and borrow from the ones below, which makes the sciences higher on the hierarchy more difficult and abstract. (Delaney 134)
Max Weber did not agree with this theory, which, constitutes the difficulty of the section. He kept to the point that “there can be as many sciences as there are different avenues to approach a problem, and we have no right to assume that we have exhausted all possible avenues of approach.” (Delaney 134) This makes the readers think which of the sociologists was right and induces them to think over the possible hierarchy of sciences.
Among Weber’s concepts discussed in the book, the most significant is the concept “verstehen”, the concept of social action, and the concept of causality. The whole of Weber’s sociology is based on verstehen, which is the German word for “understand”. “Weber recognized that sociologists had an advantage over natural scientists in that they possessed the ability to understand the phenomena under study.” (Delaney136) The essence of this concept lies in the necessity of understanding the meaning of each person’s actions. As far as the concept of social action is concerned, Weber used it to observe the modifications of human behaviors in society. “Weber distinguishes between four major types of social action: zweckrational, wertrational, effective action, and traditional action” (Delaney 138)
Finally, Weber’s concept of causality presupposes that each action of a person is followed by another action. He stated that causality may be both historical and sociological. “Weber believed that it was not enough to simply record events as historians do; rather sociologists should report the reasons for, and the meanings behind the action taken by the participants.” (Delaney 142) His concept of causality denotes that complex phenomena, for instance, modern capitalism, emerge out of several interrelated factors which are interrelated.
Therefore, the three concepts discussed above show that Max Weber was indeed a great sociologist who sought to explain different social actions. His concept “verstehen”, as well as the concepts of social actions and causality, contribute greatly to the development of sociology.
Works Cited
Delaney, Tom. Classical Social Theory: Investigation and Application. Prentice Hall, 2003
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