The concept that· charisma may be transmitted by ritual meansfrom one bearer to another or may be created in a new person. Theconcept was Originally magical. It involves a dissociation of charismafrom a particular individual" making it an objective, transferrable entity.In particular, it may become the charisma of office.

he conception that charisma is a quality transmitted by heredity;thus that it is participated in by the kinsmen of its bearer, particularly byhis dosest relatives.

Designation of a ~'.lCcessor by the charismatically qualified ad-ministrative staff and his recognition by the community.

reduced

Thismeans, above all, making it possible to participate in normal family re-lationships or at least to enjoy a secure social position in place of the kindof discipleship which is cut off from ordinary worldly connections, nota-bly in the family and in economic relationships.

Indeed, in its purefonn charismatic authority may he said to exist only in statu nascendi.It cannot remain stable, but becomes either traditionalized or rationalized,or a combination of bot

traditionalist periods, charisma is the great revolutionary force.

Charisma, on the other hand, may effect a subjective or internalreorientation born out of suffering, conflicts, or enthusiasm. It may thenresult in a radical alteration of the central attitudes and directions of ac-tion with a completely n~w orientation of all attitudes toward the differ-ent problems of the "world."1

n the other hand, in a case of a prilll2rily artistictyF"~ of charismatic discipleship it is conceivable that insulation fromeconomic struggle should. mean limitation of those really eligible to the"economically independent"; that is, to persons living on income fromproperty.

Almost allp!ophets have been supported by voluntary gifts

t can only tolerate,with an attitude of complete emotional indifference, irregular, unsys-tematic acquisitive acts.

On the other hand, "booty" and extortion, whetherby force or by other ffieans,is the typical form of charismatic provisionfor needs

The heroic warrior and his followers actively seek booty; the electiveruler or the charismatic party leader requires the material means of power.The former in addition requires a brilliant display of his authority tobolster his prestige. What is despised, so long as the genuinely charismatictype is adhered to, is traditional or rational everyday economizing, theattainment of a regular income by continuous economic activity devotedto this end.

In the pure type. it disdainsand repudiates economic exploitation of the gifts of grace as a source ofincome, though, to be sure, this often remains more an ideal than a fact.

hen such an authoritycomes into conBict with the competing authority of another who alsoclaims ckuismatic sanction, the only recourse is to some kind of a con-test, by magical means or an actual physical battle of the leaders. Inprinciple, only one side can be right in such a conRict; the other must heguilty of a wrong which has to be expiated

here is no systemof formal rules, of abstract legal principles, and hence no process ofrational judicial decision oriented to them. But equally there is no legalwisdom oriented to judicial precedent. Formally concrete judgments arenewly created from case to case and are originally regarded as divinejudgments and revelations.

It is rather chosen in terms of the charismatic qualities ofits members. Th

This is the genuine meaning of the divine right of kings

Psychologically this rec- 'ognition is a matter of complete personal devotion to the possessor of thequality, arising out of enthusiasm, or of despair and hope

atriar-chalism" is the situation where, within a group (household) which isusnally organized on both an economic and a kinship basis, a particularindividual governs who is designated by a definite rule of inheritance,

This recognition is freely given andguaranteed by what is held to be a proof, Originally always a miracle, andconsists in devotion to the corresponding revelation, hero worship, or ab-solute trust in the leader.

which he is considered extraordinaryand treated as endowed with supernatural. superhuman, or at least spe-ci6cally exceptional powers or qualities

ll these forms are indigenous to patrimonial regimes and often reacha very high level of development. This is not, however, true of the type ,of profit-making enterprise with heavy investments in fixed capital and arational organization of free labor which is oriented to the market pur-chases of private consumers. This type of capitalism is altogether toosensitive to all sorts of irrationalitie.;; in the administration of law, ad-ministration and taxation, for these upset the basis of calculability

develop

Patriarchalism and patrimonialism have an inherent tendency toregulate economic activity in terms of utilitarian, welfare or absolutevalues. This tendency stems from the character of the claim to legitimacyand the inte~~st in the contentment of the subjects.

imply a matter of the disorganization of an unregulated system of fees,would be the least serious effect of this if it remained a constant quantity,because then it would become calculable in practice. But it tends to bea matter which is settled from. case to case with every individual officialand thus highly variable.

Traditionalism places serious obstacles in the way of- formally'r,ational regulations, which can be depended UpQI1 to remain stable andhence are calculable in their economic implications and exploitability.b) A staff of offici.ls with formal technical training is typically .bsent

This element of arbitrariness is at leas~claimed as a right

Furthermore, patrimonialism can resort to monopolistic want satis-faction, which in part may rely on profit-making enterprises, fee-takingor taxation

Provisioning the services of socially privileged groups has verysimilar effects

An oikos maintained by the ruler where needs are met on aliturgical basis wholly or primarily in kind (in the fonn of contributionsand compulsory services

In this respect,patrimonial ism may use a wide variety of approaches. The following,however, are particularly important

Thisis most conspicuous under gerontoeratic and purely patriarchal domina-tion, which cannot use an administrative machinery against the members

as privately appropriated economic advantages.

he patrimonial retainer may receive his support in any of the fol-lowing ways:a) by living from the lord's table,,b) by allowances (usually in kind) from the lord's magazines ortreasury,c) by rights of land use in return for services ("service-land"),d) by the appropriation of property income, fees or taxes,e) by fiefs

lways a limitation of the lord's discretion in selecting his adminis-trative staff because positions or seigneurial powers have been appropri-.; ated b

which the administrative staff appropriatesparticular powers and the corresponding economic assets

here domination is primarily traditional, eventhough it"is exercised by virtue of the ruler's petsonal autonomy, it willbe Celled patrimonial authority; where it indeed operates primarily on thebasis of discretion, it will be called sultanism.

personal right, which he appropriates in the same way as he would anyordinary object of possession.

Hence the master is still largely de-pendent upon the willingness of the members to comply with his orderssince he has no machinery to enforce them. Therefore, the members(Genossen) are not yet really subjects (Untertanen)

The termgerontocracy is applied to a situation where so far as ruleover the group is organized at all it is in the hands of eIder

In the pure type of traditional rule, the following features of aooteaucratic administrative staff are absent;a) a clearly defined sphere of competence subject to impersonalrules,b) a rationally established hierarchy,c) a regular system of appointment on the basis of free contract, andorderly promotion,d) technical training as a regular requirement,e) (frequently) fixed salaries, in the type case paid in money.

This will be called patrimonial recruitment. Such personsmaybe

Rules whichin fact are innovations can be legitimized only by the claim that theyhave been "valid of yore," but have only now been recognized by meansof "Wisdom" [the Weistum of ancient Gennanic law]. Legal decisionsas "finding of the law" (Rechtsfmdung) can refer only to documents.of tradition, namely to precedents and earlier decisions

The exercise of power is oriented toward theconsideration of how far master and staff can go in view of the subjects'traditional compliance without arousing their resistance. When resistanceoccurs, it is directed against the master or his servant personaIIy, the ac-cusation being that he failed to observe the traditional limits of his power.Opposition is not directed against the system as· such-it is a case of"traditionalist revolution.

ased on personal loyalty whichresults ftOm common upbringing.

But this utilitarian tendency is generally expressed in the enactment ofcorresponding regulatory measures which themselves have a formalcharacter and tend to be treated in a formalistic spirit.

resistance

connection

office

thirty

It is a product of the striving for power

encounters

developmeht, largely under capitalistic auspices, has created an urgentneed for stable, strict, intensive, and calculable administration.

Its development is, to take the most strikingcase, at the root of the modern \Vestern state

action

norms

quarters

norms

law

commands

it

established

zation

Legal

fields

purest

complaint

do not owe thisobedience to him as an individual, but to the impersonal order. Hence, itfollows that there is an obligation to obedience only within the sphereof the rationally delimited jurisdiction which, in term!> of the order, hasbeen given to him

form

Charismatic grounds-resting on devotion to the exceptionalsanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and ofthe normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him (charisffi3ticauthority

Traditional grounds-resting on an established belief in the sanc-tity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of those exercisingauthority under them (traditional authority); or finally

Rational grounds~resting on a belief in the legality of enacted'rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issuecommands (legal authority

sight

authority

Experience shows that in no instance does domination vOluntarilylimit itself to the appeal to material or affectual or ideal motives as a basisfor its continuance. In addition every such system attempts to establishand to cultivate the belief in its legitimacy

tis its character as a compulsory association, particularly the fact that onebeomes a member of the church by birth, which distinguishes thechurch from a "sect.

compulsory hierocratic organizationwill be called a "church" insofar as its administrative staff claims amonopoly of the legitimate use of hierocratic coercion

order

staff

order

A "Power" (M~ht) is the probability that one actor within a socialrelationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resist-ance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.B. "Domination" (Herrschaft)" is the probability that a commandwith a given specific content will be obeyed by a given group of persons."Discipline" is the probability that by virtue of habituation a commandwill receive prompt and automatic obedience in stereotyped forms, onthe part of II given group of persons

characteristics

So far as anorganization is solely oriented to the first type, it will be called an ad·rninistr~tive organization; so far as it is oriented to the second type, 3regulative organization

extent

rules

staff

organization

disadvantages

appropriation

Appropriated advantages will be called "rights

inalienable

conditions

it

Thus a process ofselection or a conflict between them means only that one type of action _has in the course of time been displaced by another, whether it ,is actionby the same persons or by others.

remainS

he conceptual separa-tion of peaceful [from violent] conRict is justified by the quality of themeans normal to it and the peculiar SOCiological consequences of its oc-currence (see ch. II and later)

order

competition

physical

traditional

question

violation

granted

provided it is regulatedhy some order and applied hy a staff.

penalty

staff

violation

disapproval

either

ubjective belief in thevalidity. of an order which constitutes the valid order itself.

It is true, of course,that there is no causal relationship between the normative validity ofan order in the legal sense and any empirical process.

On the contrary, there is a gradual transition betweenthe two extremes', and also it is possible, as it has heen pointed out,for contradictory systems of order to exist at the same time. In thatcase each is "valid" precisely to the extent that there is a probabilitythat action will in fact be oriented to it

hefact that the order is recognized as valid in his society is madeevident by the fact that he cannot violate it openly without punish-ment. But apart from this limiting case, it is very common forviolation of an order to be confined to more or less numerous partialdeviations from it, or for the attempt to be made, with varying degreesof good faith, to justify the deviation as legitimate

extreme case, not at all

The transitionsbetween orientation to an order from motives of tradition or of ex-pediency to the case where a belief in its legitimacy is involved areempirically gradual.

attitude

degree

which he fulfills partly because disobediencewould be disadvantageous to him but also because its violation wouldhe abhorrent to his sense of duty (of course, in varying degrees).

interests

with

this way there arise similarities, uni-formities, and continuities in their attitudes and actions which are oftenfar more stable than they would be if action were oriented to a systemof nonns and duties which were considered binding on the members ofa group

conventional

custom

here

insofar as the probability of its existence within agroup is based on nothing but actual practice

practice is based upon long standing

oriented toward identical expectations

same

The meaning of a social relationship may be agreed upon bymutual consent.

The meaningful content which remains relatively constant in asocial relationship is capable of formulation in terms of maxims whichthe parties concerned expect to be adhered to by their partners on theaverage and approximately

"correct" or a metaphysically "true" meaning.

Hence, the definition does not specify whetherthe relation of the actors is co-operative or the opposite

t would be very unusual to find concrete cases of action, espe-cially of social action, which were oriented only in one or another ofthese ways. Furthennore. this classification of the modes of orientationof action is in no sense meant to exhaust the possibilities of the field,but. only to fonnulate in conceptually pure fonn certain sociologicallyimportant types to which actual action is more or less closely approxi-mated or, in much the more common case, which constitute it; de"ments.

him

clearly self-conscious fonnulation, of the ultimatevalues governing the action and the consistently planned orientation ofits detailed course to these values

senses

rationality

habituation

states

lue for its own sake of some ethical, aesthetic, religiou

these expectations are used as "conditions" or"means" for the attainment of the actor's own rationally pursued andcalculated ends

But conceptually it is essential todistinguish them, even though merely reactive imitation may well havea degree of sociological importance at least equal to that of the typewhich can be called social action in the strict sense.

both the orientation tothe behavior of others and the meaning which can be imputed by theactor himself, are by no means always capable of clear determination andare often altogether unconscious and seldom fully self-conscious.

both

meaningfully

found to employ some apparently useful procedurewhich he learn\.:d from someone else does not, however, constitute, in thepresent sense, social action. Action such as this is not oriented to theaction of the other person, but the actor has, through observing theother, become acquainted with certain objective facts; and it is these towhich his action is oriented

n such cases as that of the influence of the demagogue,there may be a wide variation in the extent to which his mass clientele isaffected by a meaningful reaction to the fact of its large numbers; andwhatever this relation may be, it is open to varying interpretations

Others become more difficult under these conditions. Hence it ispossible that a particular event or mode of human behavior can give riseto the most diverse kinds of feeling-gaiety, anger, enthusiasm, despair,and passions of all sorts-in a crowd situation which would not occur atall or not nearly so readily if the individual were alone.

action conditioned by crowd

or example, a mere collision of twocyclists may be compared to a natural event.

The economic activity of an individualis social only if it takes account of the behavior of someone else. Thusvery generally it becomes social insofar as the actor assumes that otherswill respect his actual control over economic gocxls.

occasion

which includes both failure to act and passiveacquiescence, may, be oriented to the past, present, or expected futurebehavior of others

But the difficulty need not prevent the sociologist from systematizing hisconcepts by the classification of possible types of subjective meaning.That is, he may reason as if action actually proceeded on the basis ofclearly self-conscious meaning. The resulting deviation from the concretefacts must continually be kept in mind whenever it, is a question of thislevel of concreteness, and must be carefully studied with reference bothto degree and kind

The theoreticaloconcepts of sociology are ideal types not only from theobjective point of view, but also in their application to subjective proc-esses. In the great majority of cases actual action goes on in a state of in-articulate half.consciousness or actual unconsciousness of its subjectivemeaning. The actor is more likely to "be aware" of it in a vague sense thanhe is to "know" what he is doing or he explicitly self-conscious about it.In most cases his action is governed by impulse or habit.

First, in analysing the extent to which in theconcrete case, or on the average for a class of cases, the action was inpart economically detennined along with the other factors. Secondly, hythrowing the discrepancy between the actual course of events and theideal type into relief, the analysis of the non-eeonomic motives actuallyinvolved is facilitated.

r sociology the motives which detennine it are qualitatively heterogene-ous.

But when reference is made to "typical" cases, the tenn shouldalways be UDderstood, unless. ochawise stated, as meaning ideo! types,which may in turiibe: rational or imltional as the case may he (thusin economic theory &hey are always rational), hut in any case are alwaysconstrocted with 19iew to adequacy on the level of meaning

But sociological investigation attempts to include inits scope wrious irrational phenomena, such as prophetic, mystic, andaffectual modes of action, formulated in terms of theoretical conceptswhich are adequate on the level of meaning. In all cases, rational Or.irrational, sociological analysis both abstracts from reality and at thesame time helps us to understand it, in that it shows With what degree ofapproximation a concrete historical phenomenon can be subsumed underone or more of these concepts

We have taken for granted that sociology seeks to formulate typeconcepts and generalized uniformities of empirical process

Similarly the rational deliberation of an actor as towhether the remlts of a given proposed course of action will or will notpromot~ certain spednc interests, and the corresponding decision, donot become one bit more understandable by taking "psychological" con-siderations into account. But it is precisely on the basis of such rationalassumptions that most of the hws .of SOCiology, including those of eco-nomics, arc built up.

Whatmotives determine and lead the individual members and participants inthis socialistic communi+y to behave in such a way that the communitycame into being in the first place and that it continues to exist? Any'form of functional analysis which proceeds from the whole to the partscan accomplish only a preliminary preparation for this investigation-a preparation, the utility and indispensability of which, if properly car-ried out, is naturaJIy beyond question

We can accomplish something which is never attain-able in the natural sciences, namely the subjective understanding of theaction of the component individuals. The natural sciences on the otherhand cannot do this, being limited to the formulation of causal uni-formities in objects and events and the explanation of individual factsby applying them. We do not "understand" the behavior of cells, but canonly observe the relevant functional relationships and generalize on thebasis of these observations.

For purposes of sociological analysis two things can be said. Firstthis functional frame of reference is convenient for purposes of practicalillustration and for provisional orientation. In these respects. it is notonly useful but indispensable. But at the same time if its cognitive valueis overestimated and its concepts illegitimately "reified,"H it can be highly,dangerous. Secondly, in certain circumstanCes this is the only availableway of determining just what processes of social action it is important tounderstand in order to explain a given phenomenon

But in the above important connexion, at least, this would naturally beimpOSSible

mIr a certain kind of development ofactual or possible social actions of individual persons.

action

It is further possible toattempt, with their help, to obtain a causal explanation of individual phe-nomena, that is, to subsume them under unifonnities. But the subjectiveunderstanding of action takes the same account of this type of fact anduniformity as of any others not capable of subjective interpretation.

the behavior of one or more individual humanbeings

Such phenomena,however important, are simply treated by a different method from theothers; they become conditions, stimuli, furthering or hindering circum-stances of action

For this there must be somedegree of determinable frequency of approximation to an average or apure type.

The striking rationalplausibility of the hypothesis must here necessan1y be relied on as a sup-port. In very many cases of historical interpretation which seem highlyplausible, however, there is not even a possibility of the order of verifica-rion which was feasible in this case. Where this is true the interpretationmust necessarily remain a hypothesis.

ften, unfortunately, there is available only the uncertain procedureof the "imaginary experiment" which consists in thinking away certainelements of a chain of motivation and working out the course of actionwhich would then probably ensue, thus arriving at a causal judgment.

Third, the actors in any given situation are oftensu~ject to opposing and conflicting impulses, all of which we are able tounderstand. In a large number of cases we know from experience it isnot_possible to arrive at even an approximate estimate of the relativestrength of conflicting motives and very often we cannot be certain ofour interpretation. Only the actual outcome of the conflict gives a solidbasis of judgment

Secondly, processes of action which seem to an observer to be thesame or similar may fit into exceedingly various complexes of motive inthe case of the actual actor

In the first place the "conscioLs motives" may well,even to the actor himself, conceal the various "motives" and "repressions"which constitute the real driving force of his action. Thus in such caseseven subjectively honest self-analysis has only a relative value.

Every interpretation attempts to attain clarity and certainty, but nomatter how clear an interpretation as 'such appears to be from the pointof view of meaning, it cannot on this account claim to be the causallyvalid. interpretation

(a) as in the his-torical approach, the actually intended meaning for Concrete individualactior.; or (b) as in cases of sociological mass phenomena, the average of,or an approximation to, the actually intended meaning; or (c) the mean-ing appropriate to a scientifically formulated pure type (an ideal type)of a common phenomenon.

Thus we understand in tenus of motive the meaning anactor attaches to the proposition twice two e<juals four, when he statesit or writes it down, in that we understand what makes him do this atprecisely this mOInent and in these circumstance

actions

This would be the case if, and in-sofar as, we had statistically conclusive proof of their influence on socio-logically relevant behavior.

It may be that the Hooding of theDollart [at the mouth of the Ems river near the Dutch-Gennan border}in 1277 had historical significance as a stimulus to the beginning ofcertain migrations of considerable importance. Human mortality, indeedthe organic life cycle from the helplessness of infancy to that of old age,is naturally of the very greatest sociolOgical importance through thevariQus ways in which human action has been oriented to these facts.To still a~oth~r category of facts devoid of meaning_ belong certainpsychic or psychophysical phenomena such as fatigue, habituation,memory, etc.; also certain typical states of euphoria under some condi-tions of ascetic mortification; finally, typical variations in the reactions ofindividuals according to reaction-time, precision, and other modes. Butin the last analysiS the same principle applies to these as to otherphenomena which are devoid of meaning. Both the actor and the soci-ologist must accept them as data to be taken int~ account

modes

Thatis to say they are devoid of meaning if they cannot be related to actionin the role of means or ends but constitute only the stim~lus, the favor-ing or hindering citcUmstances.

danger

By comparison with this it is possible to understandthe ways in which actual action is influenced by irrational factors of allsorts, such as affects and errors, in that they account for the deviationfrom the line of conduct which would be expected on the hypotheSisthat the action were pure! y rational

hese difficulties confront, for instance, people not susceptibleto unusual acts of religious and charitable zeal, or persons who abhorextreme rationalist fanaticism (such as the fanatic advocacy of the"rights of man

self-analysis

Understandable and non-understandable components of a processare o~·ten intermingled and hound up together

investigation

consequences

Here also he made no attempts to withdraw,in the manner of Simmel, but rather immersed himself deeply in publicmatters, striving at the same time to maximize his objective understanding.

eber did notwithdraw, as Simmel had done, but rather attempted to clarify his emotionsand sort out his commitments by viewing his relationships with detached con-cern.*^ Such a strategy, however, took a serious toll of his psychic energies;it finally led to his breakdown when repressed antagonisms burst out in thatfinal confrontation between father and son shortly before the father's death

eber, the son of Protestant "insiders," attained similar goals byactively involving and immersing himself in the issues and policies of his day.Much like the "innerworldly ascetics" of early Calvinism about whom he wrotewith such awe and admiration, Weber gained intellectual autonomy by plung-ing into the struggles of the social and political world rather than by "other-worldly" withdrawal from its turmoils.

had to be an inductive science of the concrete economic behavior of par-ticular men in particular social contexts. This accounts for their institutionalemphasis and their insistence on the importance of the noneconomic matrixof economic life.

economics.

Rickert

matter

In the humanistic disciplines, the Geisteswissenschajten,knowledge is not external but internal. Men are intelligible to us in theiruniqueness and individuahty.