SOC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Protestant Work Ethic, Opiate, Corporate Personhood

• School: University of Iowa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1010
• Professor: Lovaglia Michael

Document Summary

Proposed that rational-legal authority in the form of bureaucracies would eventually spread to govern all societies. Bureaucratic coordination of activities is the distinctive feature of modern society. Called modern bureaucratic society an iron cage constraining humanity. Authority rests with the office not the incumbent. Incumbents(person who holds the office) have limited authority. Appointments are made by specialized qualification rather than ascription. Implying that jobs are given to those with personal connections. Efficiently coordinate the work of large numbers of people to accomplish complex long-term projects. Modern economies and technologies are only possible (with bureaucracy) Modern states are successful to the extent they monopolize the use of coercive power within their borders. The major advantage is calculability of results. Particular religious ideas lead to economic systems like capitalism. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism important theory of the origin of modern industrial capitalism. Asceticism: self-denial, minimal consumption of material goods gives glory to god.