Max Weber's Types of Rationality

Stephen Kalberg, "Max Weber's Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History", The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85, No. 5 (Mar., 1980), pp. 1145-1179.

 

abstract

 

Rationality has been recognized as perhaps the major theme in Max Weber's oeuvre. The commentators who have addressed this theme have generally constricted its polymorphous character. This article inventories Weber's usage of "rationality" and "rationaliza- tion" in Economy and Society and the Collected Essays in the So- ciology of Religion. Four types of rationality are identified and com- pared with one another: practical, theoretical, substantive, and for- mal. only "ethical substantive rationality" introduces methodical ways of life. All four types become manifest in a multiplicity of rationalization processes orchestrated at all levels of societal and civilizational process. Long-term rationalization processes are seen to be rooted in values rather than in interests. The dominance of prac- tical, theoretical, and formal rationalization processes in modern Western societies implies immense consequences for the type of per- son likely to live in these societies.

 

 

Max Weber's Types of Rationality-Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History.pdf