Max Weber

Maximilian·Carl·emir·Weber（German：Maximilian Karl Emil Weber，pronounce：[ˈveːbɐ] ；1864Year4moon21day—1920Year6moon14day），Max·Weber（Max Weber），Famous German sociologist、historian、Jurist and political economist，He is one of the core figures in the history of the development of sociology and social sciences.。 His ideas still have an important influence on social theory and research today. Weber was born in Erfurt in 1864 and studied law and history at the University of Berlin, the University of Göttingen and the University of Heidelberg. He received a doctorate in law in 1889 and qualified as a professor in 1891. He later taught at the University of Berlin, the University of Freiburg and the University of Heidelberg. Two years later, he married a distant relative, Mary Anne Schnittger. After his father's death in 1897, Weber suffered a mental breakdown, stopped teaching, and traveled around until he gradually recovered in the early 20th century. After his recovery, he wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. During World War I, Weber initially supported Germany's entry into the war, but later turned critical of the war and supported German democratization. He also delivered two famous speeches: "Academics as a Vocation" and "Politics as a Vocation". After the war, Weber participated in the formation of the German Democratic Party, but failed to run for public office. Instead, he provided advice on the drafting of the Weimar Constitution. Disillusioned with politics, he returned to academia, teaching at the Universities of Vienna and Munich. Weber died of pneumonia at the age of 56 in 1920, possibly caused by the postwar Spanish flu pandemic. His posthumous book "Economy and Society" was not completed. Unlike Marx, who advocated historical materialism, and Durkheim, who pursued positivism, Weber emphasized the role of subjective will in social development. Weber made many contributions in the fields of economic sociology, political sociology, and sociology of religion. Weber aimed to understand social processes such as rationalization, secularization and disenchantment, arguing that these processes were closely related to capitalism and modernity. Weber also pointed out in "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" that Protestant ethics played a role in promoting the formation of capitalism. Weber then discussed Confucianism and Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as ancient Judaism and other religions in "The Economic Ethics of World Religions". In terms of government theory, Weber argued that the essence of the state lies in its monopoly on violence. He also divided social authority into three types - charismatic, traditional and legal.