Max weber's theory of social change?

Answer 1

Max Weber's social action has four types:

* Traditional Social Action=actions carried out by tradition, cultural, habits or customs * Affective Social Action=emotional actions, expressing emotion * Instrumental or Purposeful Social Action (Zweckrationalität): taking the appropriate steps toward a goal * Value Rational Action (Wertrationalität)= The end justify the means, actions leading to a goal with no thought to its consequences

Answer 2

According to Weber, authority is legitimated in three ways within societies: traditional, rational and charismatic. The first two forms are found in stable societies, and the third is found in unstable forms of social organization, such as social movements/cults.

Traditional authority is legitimated by claims that it has always been this way. Leaders are obeyed as individual representation of legitimate power. Their words must be obeyed. Laws change according to leadership's will. Feudal lords had traditional authority.

Rational authority is legitimated by general laws that all are subject, including the leadership. Positions of authority are ideally filled by those who merited them through personal achievement. The position, rather that the person is the source of authority. Bureaucratic capitalism and socialism are examples of rational authority.

Charismatic social organization may spring up in either a traditional or rational society. It is the means to social change. Charismatic authority is grounded in respect for the leadership's mission as highly ethical/just/godly. Leadership is new and seen as having special powers. When a movement's ideas are accepted and integrated into a stable society, the movement ends. Christianity in the early years was a charismatic social movement/religion. It was stablized when it was institutionalized in European feudalism, and in modern capitalist societies. Similarly, the Civil Right's movement in the US was a charismatic social movement, stabilized with the Civil Right's Act.