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Social Action Theory (Conflict Structuralism 2): Weber
1. How is society constructed?
Society is created through social interaction. Social interaction is the behaviour of people consciously relating to one another. In the process of interaction, people form institutions. Although people create institutions such as schools, factories and churches, these institutions in turn influence people. This is partly because pressure exists to observe the rules and procedures of institutions.
Weber felt that Marx overemphasised the importance of class groupings. He recognised that classes are important but considered political parties and status groups (social and friendship groups) to be further powerful and important forces in society, not necessarily dependent on class (as Marx contended they essentially were). This major point of difference between Marx and Weber will be discussed later in the course. Weber also stressed the power of large organisations or bureaucracies over the life of the individual.
2. How does society “operate” or function?
Again, Weber`s answer to this question shows his keen awareness of both the individual`s influence on society and of society`s influence on the individual. On the one hand, he stresses that the ideas and feelings people have do sometimes inspire action and affect history. For example, he argued that certain powerful and dynamic figures, or charismatic leaders as he called them, such as Christ or Napoleon, really can change the course of events. On the other hand, he realised that most people`s lives are formed and limited by the society they live in, and particularly by the immediate institutions they come in contact with, such as schools and places of work. He was personally concerned that large-scale institutions of modern societies (factories, government bureaucracies for example) would limit the scope of individual freedom and creativity. It seems to worry Weber more than it does the strict functionalists that many people may be only ‘small cogs in large machines’ as far as their work is concerned.
3. Why are some groups in society more powerful than others?
Power is one of Weber`s central concepts. He combines elements of consensus and conflict sociology in his treatment of this matter. He agreed with the functionalists that for society to function efficiently some people have to have more power than others. He pointed out that in modern bureaucratic organisations (the civil service, for example) there are always more powerful people at the top, and less powerful people at the bottom; that is bureaucracies are organised hierarchically. But Weber also accepted with Marx that those groups which do gain a powerful position in society tend to use it primarily in their own interest. Thus in medieval society the king and nobility used power for their own ends, even though they may also have sometimes used it for the general good as well.
4. What causes social change?
Weber considered that social change can occur for many reasons, or, more technically, according to his analysis, social change is multifactoral. Ideas, new inventions, war, the rise and fall of power groups, influential individuals and other factors all contribute to, and are part of, historical change. In insisting on the possible variety of causes of change, Weber wished to distinguish his position from that of Marx, whom he thought overemphasised class conflict as an explanation for change.
5. Is society in orderly balance or conflict?
The issue of equilibrium and conflict in society is posed to contrast functionalism and Marxism, and is less of central concern to social action theorists. Weber considered that society is not normally in balance or in conflict - the state of society varies from case to case. A society may be untroubled for centuries and then be plunged into decades of turmoil. Weber preferred to study specific cases rather than make sweeping generalisations about what is ‘normal’.
