Weber, << VAY buhr, >> Max (1864-1920), was one of the founders of modern sociology. Much of Weber’s work investigated the influence of ideas and values on the modernization of economies.
Weber was born on April 21, 1864, in Erfurt, Germany. He studied at the universities of Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg. His influential work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was originally published as a series of articles in 1904 and 1905 and as a book in 1920. In it, Weber set forth his thoughts on why Western culture had developed an especially organized type of capitalism earlier than had other civilizations. Weber argued that some Protestant churches and groups of the 1500’s and 1600’s, such as Calvinists, encouraged the belief that the ability to work hard and achieve success in business was a sign of God’s favor and of spiritual salvation. Wealth, reinvestment of profit, and conscientious work therefore took on a religious significance. As Calvinism and similar religious movements spread throughout Western civilization, so did their attitudes about wealth, work, and profit.
Weber also examined the civilizations of China, India, and ancient Israel. He tried to understand how religious beliefs combined with economic interests, political interests, power, and varying forms of authority to drive a civilization’s development. These studies form the foundation for many branches of sociology today. Weber’s sweeping investigations seek impartially to examine people in a wide variety of social groups and to ask how certain activities become important and meaningful to them. He died on June 14, 1920.
