Sociological Theory

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Max Weber (1864–1920)

If Karl Marx is considered the foremost social philosopher of the nineteenth-century, Max Weber is very specific to the discipline of sociology. Marx is important as a classical thinker for students of sociology, but Max Weber is the greater master of the discipline. Beyond positivism, Weber infused new life to the social science methodology. Intellectually he was the most comprehensive scholar of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century world of sociology. Addressing substantive questions on issues of ideas and history of the world, Weber placed sociology on a firm disciplinary ground.

Weber's multifarious interests and personality possibly hold clue to his range of important formulations. Such formulations take care ...