SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Magical Thinking, Calvinism, Ideal Type
4 Nov 2013
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Weber rejected marx"s materialist conception of history. He saw class conflict as less significant. Weber argued that ideas and values were as important as economic factors in creating social change. Weber focused on status categories, rather than property relations: other people with positions in society, this is about status and not just about position. Status level of social prestige that you have (maybe not a lot of money, but a lot of prestige) Party degree of political influence (do you hold a lot of political influence?) One of weber"s contributions was that he did a lot of empirical research. Studied religions of china, india, and the near east. Weber contributed to the sociology of religion. Religion is not necessarily a conservative force. Religiously inspired movements have often produced dramatic social transformations. For example, protestantism, particularly puritanism, was the source of a capitalist outlook. In their desire to serve god, they were driven to succeed.
