Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist, who is regarded among the most important theorists on the development of modern Western society.
After contracting Spanish flu, he died of pneumonia in 1920, aged 56. ==Personal life== ===Early life and background=== Maximilian Karl Emil Weber was born in 1864 in Erfurt, Province of Saxony, Prussia.
Throughout the late 1880s, Weber continued his study of law and history, earning his law doctorate in 1889 by writing a dissertation on legal history titled The history of commercial partnerships in the Middle Ages.
Over time, Weber would also be significantly affected by the marital tension between his father, "a man who enjoyed earthly pleasures", and his mother, a devout Calvinist "who sought to lead an ascetic life". ===Education=== In 1882, Weber enrolled in the University of Heidelberg as a law student, transferring to the University of Berlin after a year of military service.
In 1886, Weber passed the examination for Referendar, comparable to the bar association examination in the British and U.S.
In 1888, he joined the Verein für Socialpolitik, a new professional association of German economists affiliated with the historical school, who saw the role of economics primarily as finding solutions to the social problems of the age and who pioneered large scale statistical studies of economic issues.
Throughout the late 1880s, Weber continued his study of law and history, earning his law doctorate in 1889 by writing a dissertation on legal history titled The history of commercial partnerships in the Middle Ages.
In 1890, the Verein established a research program to examine "the Polish question", or ostflucht: the influx of Polish farm workers into eastern Germany as local labourers migrated to Germany's rapidly industrialising cities.
This chronicle was supposedly destroyed because Marianne feared that Weber's work would be discredited by the Nazis if his experience with mental illness were widely known. ===Later work=== After Weber's immense productivity in the early 1890s, he did not publish any papers between early 1898 and late 1902, finally resigning his professorship in late 1903.
Having thus become a privatdozent, Weber joined the University of Berlin's faculty, lecturing and consulting for the government. ===Marriage=== In 1893, Weber married his distant cousin Marianne Schnitger, later a feminist activist and author in her own right, who was instrumental in collecting and publishing Weber's journal articles as books after his death, while her biography of him is an important source for understanding Weber's life.
Weber was put in charge of the study and wrote a large part of the final report, which generated considerable attention and controversy, marking the beginning of Weber's renown as a social scientist. From 1893 to 1899, Weber was a member of the Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German League), an organization that campaigned against the influx of the Polish workers; the degree of Weber's support for the Germanisation of Poles and similar nationalist policies is still debated by modern scholars.
In some of his work, in particular his provocative lecture on "The Nation State and Economic Policy" delivered in 1895, Weber criticises the immigration of Poles and blames the Junker class for perpetuating Slavic immigration to serve their selfish interests. Weber and his wife, Marianne, moved to Freiburg in 1894, where Weber was appointed professor of economics at the Albert-Ludwigs University, before accepting the same position at the University of Heidelberg in 1896.
In some of his work, in particular his provocative lecture on "The Nation State and Economic Policy" delivered in 1895, Weber criticises the immigration of Poles and blames the Junker class for perpetuating Slavic immigration to serve their selfish interests. Weber and his wife, Marianne, moved to Freiburg in 1894, where Weber was appointed professor of economics at the Albert-Ludwigs University, before accepting the same position at the University of Heidelberg in 1896.
In some of his work, in particular his provocative lecture on "The Nation State and Economic Policy" delivered in 1895, Weber criticises the immigration of Poles and blames the Junker class for perpetuating Slavic immigration to serve their selfish interests. Weber and his wife, Marianne, moved to Freiburg in 1894, where Weber was appointed professor of economics at the Albert-Ludwigs University, before accepting the same position at the University of Heidelberg in 1896.
His research in that period was focused on economics and legal history. ===Mental health concerns=== In 1897, Weber Sr.
This chronicle was supposedly destroyed because Marianne feared that Weber's work would be discredited by the Nazis if his experience with mental illness were widely known. ===Later work=== After Weber's immense productivity in the early 1890s, he did not publish any papers between early 1898 and late 1902, finally resigning his professorship in late 1903.
Weber was put in charge of the study and wrote a large part of the final report, which generated considerable attention and controversy, marking the beginning of Weber's renown as a social scientist. From 1893 to 1899, Weber was a member of the Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German League), an organization that campaigned against the influx of the Polish workers; the degree of Weber's support for the Germanisation of Poles and similar nationalist policies is still debated by modern scholars.
His condition forced him to reduce his teaching and eventually leave his course unfinished in the autumn of 1899.
After spending the summer and fall months of 1900 in a sanatorium, Weber and his wife travelled to Italy at the end of the year, not returning to Heidelberg until April 1902.
After spending the summer and fall months of 1900 in a sanatorium, Weber and his wife travelled to Italy at the end of the year, not returning to Heidelberg until April 1902.
This chronicle was supposedly destroyed because Marianne feared that Weber's work would be discredited by the Nazis if his experience with mental illness were widely known. ===Later work=== After Weber's immense productivity in the early 1890s, he did not publish any papers between early 1898 and late 1902, finally resigning his professorship in late 1903.
He would again withdraw from teaching in 1903 and would not return until 1919.
This chronicle was supposedly destroyed because Marianne feared that Weber's work would be discredited by the Nazis if his experience with mental illness were widely known. ===Later work=== After Weber's immense productivity in the early 1890s, he did not publish any papers between early 1898 and late 1902, finally resigning his professorship in late 1903.
In 1904, Weber began to publish some of his most seminal papers in this journal, notably his essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which became his most famous work and laid the foundations for his later research on the impact of cultures and religions on the development of economic systems.
Some other of his works written in the first one and a half decades of the 20th centurypublished posthumously and dedicated primarily from the fields of sociology of religion, economic and legal sociologyare also recognised as among his most important intellectual contributions. Also in 1904, Weber visited the United States, participating in the Congress of Arts and Sciences held in connection with the World's fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) in St.
Airy, North Carolina. Despite his partial recovery evident in America, Weber felt that he was unable to resume regular teaching at that time and continued on as a private scholar, helped by an inheritance in 1907.
In 1909, disappointed with the Verein, he co-founded the German Sociological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie|label=none, or DGS) and served as its first treasurer, though resigning in 1912. ===Political involvements=== Later in 1912, Weber tried to organise a left-wing political party to combine social-democrats and liberals.
In 1909, disappointed with the Verein, he co-founded the German Sociological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie|label=none, or DGS) and served as its first treasurer, though resigning in 1912. ===Political involvements=== Later in 1912, Weber tried to organise a left-wing political party to combine social-democrats and liberals.
It never crossed [my] mind that a German invasion of Belgium [in 1914] was nothing but an innocent act on the part of the Germans. Later that same month, in January 1919, after Weber and his party were defeated for election, Weber delivered one of his greatest academic lectures, "Politics as a Vocation", which reflected on the inherent violence and dishonesty he saw among politiciansa profession in which only recently Weber was so personally active.
This attempt was unsuccessful, in part because many liberals feared social-democratic revolutionary ideals. ====World War I==== At the outbreak of World War I, Weber, aged 50, volunteered for service and was appointed as a reserve officer in charge of organizing the army hospitals in Heidelberg, a role he fulfilled until the end of 1915.
Weber publicly attacked the Belgian annexation policy and unrestricted submarine warfare, later supporting calls for constitutional reform, democratisation, and universal suffrage. ====Post-World War I==== Weber joined the worker and soldier council of Heidelberg in 1918.
He opposed both the leftist German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, principled positions that defied the political alignments in Germany at that time, and which may have prevented Friedrich Ebert, the new social-democratic President of Germany, from appointing Weber as minister or ambassador.
He also ran unsuccessfully for a seat in parliament and served as advisor to the committee that drafted the ill-fated democratic Weimar Constitution of 1919.
He would again withdraw from teaching in 1903 and would not return until 1919.
It never crossed [my] mind that a German invasion of Belgium [in 1914] was nothing but an innocent act on the part of the Germans. Later that same month, in January 1919, after Weber and his party were defeated for election, Weber delivered one of his greatest academic lectures, "Politics as a Vocation", which reflected on the inherent violence and dishonesty he saw among politiciansa profession in which only recently Weber was so personally active.
They are not in touch with reality, and they do not feel the burden they need to shoulder; they just intoxicate themselves with romantic sensations." ===Last years=== Frustrated with politics, Weber resumed teaching during this time, first at the University of Vienna, then, after 1919, at the University of Munich.
Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist, who is regarded among the most important theorists on the development of modern Western society.
After contracting Spanish flu, he died of pneumonia in 1920, aged 56. ==Personal life== ===Early life and background=== Maximilian Karl Emil Weber was born in 1864 in Erfurt, Province of Saxony, Prussia.
Many colleagues and students in Munich attacked his response to the German Revolution, while some right-wing students held protests in front of his home. On 14 June 1920, Max Weber contracted the Spanish flu and died of pneumonia in Munich.
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