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DECRIPTION OF THE MODULE
Items Description of the Module
Subject Name Sociology
Paper Name Classical Sociological Theory
Module Name/Title Weber’s Conception of History: Rationality and
Disenchantment
Pre Requisites Social sciences, philosophy, historicism, and
Weber’s Rationalisation process
Objectives The main objective of this paper is to explore Max
Weber conception of history, rationality and
disenchantment. Not to live the paper hanging a
brief assessment will follow.
Key words capitalism Socialism, Proleterait, Bourgeoisie, The
Indian, Primitive communism,
MODULE STRUCTURE
Weber’s Conception of History: Rationality and
Disenchantment A discourse on Weber’s Conception of History, Disenchantment and Rationality.
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CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
WEBERS COCEPTION OF HISTORY: RATIONALITY AND DISENCHANTMENT
Introduction
The entry of human society into modernity inspired many sociologists to comment on it. Some
sociologists were in favour of this movement while some others remained suspicious of this
event. The entry into modernity also meant new rules of engagement- new modern nation-
states, market-capitalism, bureaucracy and rationality. It was in this situation that Weber argued
that human kind is headed towards an iron cage. He rightly envisioned that the formal rules
and laws together with the formalized principles of bureaucracy would lead to a state when
humans and their relationships would be objectified. This disenchantment that Weber espoused
bears certain resemblance to Hegel’s phenomenology of the Spirit and to that of Marx’s
dialectical materialism. However for Weber, the transformation of European history is best
accounted for not in terms of protracted struggle for political freedom and equality or for
proletarian revolution and empowerment but as a progressive and degenerative process that
dilutes human-ness for a world that is robotic.
One thing that stands out very clearly in Weber’s historical process is that he sees history to be
ruled by a rational process. The moving force of history is rationality. There is a movement
from more primitive ways of understanding the world to more modern’s ways. There is a
movement form tradition to rationality, from magic to religion and from religion to science;
science which is an end product of the enlightenment movement and the French and Industrial
revolutions.
As he dives deeper into historical analysis, one thing that stands out clear in Weber’s account
of history is the dimension of the play of the formation of idle types. Idle types of Protestantism
and capitalism are fluid and interchangeable; they reverse roles, overcome each other at
different points in time and reciprocally influence each other.1 There is an element of chance
too in Weber’s historical account. The fact that the theological conception of the calling and
1 David Chalcraft et al, Marx Weber Matters: Interweaving past and the Present, (London: Ashgate Publishing
ltd), 80.
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predestination appear at particular moments in history and that a form of economic enterprise
focused profit arises as well are not the result of some logic guiding history but rather chance.2
When we relate the works of Weber and Marx, we see that Karl Marx has dealt more with the
economic history of human history and for him the relations of production and means and
modes and ownership of production were the ways in which history could be comprehended.
Some scholars view Weber as being more sophisticated in his understanding of multiple causes
of ideology and politics of modernity and capitalism. Just as Marx was able to view human
history from a larger frame though some scholars view his perspective as teleological and
Eurocentric so was Weber’s comprehension. But Weber is more attuned to the variability and
complexity of human cultural and historical patterns.3 Where Marx over systematizes and
emphasizes the importance of economic relations, reducing all cultural and historical
complexities to a single cause and one multi-linear historical process, Weber with his
methodology of “idle types”4 acknowledges complexity and multi-causality. Finally Weber’s
historical process is contained in the struggle through which rationality a product of modern
society (virtue), transcends irrationality (Vice), freedom over un-freedom.5 After having briefly
summed up the trajectory of Max Weber’s conception of history, we shall now address the
three periods that are portrayed in the process. This will help us when we shall be discussing
disenchantment. Weber also attempted to paint human history through large strokes such as
Marx and argued that human history has generally moved through phases- magic, religion and
modernity.
1.1.1. The Era of Magic
The era of Magic falls within the enchanted age. In the enchanted age of magic, Weber
holds that the means of control was conditioned by the belief that the natural environment is
governed by spiritual forces residing in and beyond the immanent order of nature itself. This
means that in the era of magic the basis of controlling nature is at the bottom, a matter of
establishing a means of influence over the super natural forces that inform it. It is good to note
before we proceed, that that the era of magic is often termed by Weber as the traditional society.
2 Stuart Macintyre, (2011), The Oxford history of Historical Writings vol.4, (United Kingdom: OUP Oxford) 53. 3 Ellen. M. Woods, (2007), Democracy against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism (Britain: Cambridge
University Press), 146. 4 Weber's discussion of social action is an example of the use of an ideal type. An ideal type provides the basic
method for historical-comparative study. It is not meant to refer to the best or to some moral ideal, but rather a
typical or logically consistent" features of social institutions or behaviours. 5 Jose Lopez, (2003), Society and its Metaphor: Language, Social Theory and Social Structure, (New York:
Continuum), 38.
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Magic then for Weber is the name given to the art that has its purpose, the extension of power
over a spiritualized natural realm.6
Moreover one of the distinguishing marks characteristic of magic according to Weber
and one which distinguishes it sharply from modern technology is its relative inability to affect
real control over natural processes. Magic then for Weber is an important art. Its successes are
largely fortuitous and its failure conveniently interpreted by its practioners as signs of
impendency success. One of the reasons why the enchanted world of magic yielded less results
is the fact that the will to command nature’s obedience is checked by an opposing will, the will
of nature or more precisely the will of the spiritual forces that oversee the operation.7
1.1.2. The Era of Religion
In the rational historical process of Weber, he sees religion as a force that had changed
society and stands significant. The magical world or society or era gave way to the religious
society or era. What happened with religion is the fact that along with science religion served
to rationalize and ultimately erode the magical mythical world view. The shift in historicity at
this juncture as we have already seen is the shift from magic to religion. In the era of religion
what was at play is, religion demanded a more coherent meaningful justification of human
suffering8 and most important by the enumeration of directives outlining the way of life most
likely to win salvation.
Another key facet of this era is that religious disciplined action; neither leisure nor
contemplation was interpreted as a sign of Gods glory. Labour was perceived as mere means
to satisfy the immediate material interest of the individual and his community. Worldly activity
for Weber was ennobled and given a sense of inner dignity when in the Calvinist mind, it was
seen in a sense as a visible confirmation of one’s faith. But in the modern period the work ethic
as Weber will put it, will express itself in the more secular form. We will come to discover
that in the modern era every ascetic action has come to be regarded as an activity of intrinsic
worth as a good in and for itself.9
6 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, (New
York: University of New York Pres), 29. 7 Ibid, 29. 8 Gilbert .G. Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, (New
York: University of New York Pres), 35 9 Ibid, 35.
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At its height the phase of religion (he is referring to catholic Christianity) was dominant
of the medieval period or the Middle Ages as many will call it. The medieval religious practices
were linked with the church which found itself stranded with tradition and belief that the
working of miracles was the most efficacious means of demonstrating its monopoly of faith.
By the twelfth and thirteen century, the lives of the saints had assumed a stereotyped pattern
wherein they glorified the miraculous achievements of holy people, discussed how they could
prophesise, control the weather, provide protection against fire and flood and bring relief to the
sick. Again an enchanted worldview was at play here.10
Whilst ideas such as these continued into the modern era, there is a decline was in
religion and the super naturalistic worldview started experiencing erosion. Although the
erosion began during the Renaissance and reformation, Weber would say from the time of
industrial revolution, it had significantly picked up.11
1.1.3. The Modern Era
The renaissance and later the enlightenment era brought in drastic changes in human
history. The French revolution, American war of independence brought in reason, science,
rationality and logic as the basis of assuming human society and human reality. By the
enlightenment period, there was a change in belief structures and the normative order of
society. There was a great rational revolution, and the values and the unity of meaning that
prevailed in the magical-mythical society was being pushed out of the realm of rationality. The
old cosmos of meaning was replaced in the modern period with cosmic configuration typified
by the emergence of differentiated value spheres for example political, scientific and aesthetic
each possessing its own immanent norms. In the modern society reason reigned supreme,
religion becomes a thing of the past; there was a move from the sacred to the secular. There
was a shift from the supernatural to the natural, from the divine to the human. Science now
becomes the true religion. The rational man according to Weber becomes the agent to control
capitalism and all other social systems in society. So Max Weber takes us to a period of
disenchantment and deconstruction. All institutional ethics and traditionalism are relegated to
the background. The prime terminology responsible for this shift and move is disenchantment
in Weber’s terminology or secularization as many philosophers of the time will term it.
10 Badham. P, ( 2001), Religious state and Society in Modern Britain, (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen) 11 Barker. C, (2000) Cultural Studies: Theory and practice, (London; Sage), 10.
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This period can be characterized for its transformation in terms of ideas and processes. There
is a rejection of mysticism in favor of materialism, of superstition in favour of science, of
rulership by ecclesiastically supported divine right in favour of government based on
contractual legal principle, of human inspiration and originality in favour of method and
repeatability, of moral agency in favour of reflex and conditioning as the determinants of
behaviour, and of oral tradition with a secular faith in historical progress in terms of scientific
and technology advances, expanding economies and the realization of utopian and social
possibilities. The protestant science and industry which Weber takes a lot of interest in puts
knowledge within the grasp of the common man and make the acquisition of wealth a positive
social objective for all. This is called the protestant ethic and capitalism becomes the order of
the day. This protestant ethic of cultivating science and industry according to Weber in this era,
was able to maintain the myth of progress or rapid upward evolution thanks to the huge deposits
of fossil fuels, primarily coal and oil, that modern societies where able to exploit.12 This was
typical of Germany at that point of time.
1.2.DISENCHANTMENT
Marx Weber defines disenchantment as the process whereby magic and spiritual
mystery are driven from the world, nature is managed rather than enchanted, the spiritual loses
significance and the institutions and laws do not depend on religion for their legitimization13
In other words, it is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of mysticism including God
apparent in modern society. Max Weber uses it to describe the character of modernized,
bureaucratic, secularized Western Society, where science is more highly valued than belief,
and where processes are oriented toward rational goals as opposed to traditional society where,
in Weber's words: the world remains a great enchanted garden.
As already mention religious beliefs and symbols are being disenchanted and
abandoned. Now when one critically go through Weber’s whole polemics of disenchantment
one realizes that, there are two striking points he highlights. These are disenchantment of the
World and disenchantment of nature. I shall briefly discuss these two points separately, though
they are interlinked.
1.2.1. Disenchantment of the World
12 Paul Connelly, (2008 ), Modernity in the Sequence of Historical Eras,
http://www.darc.org/connelly/religion5.html, ( Accessed 5th November 2015) 13 Christopher Partridge, (2005), The Re-enchantment of the West, (London: A/B Black), 11.
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What does it mean to say the world is disenchanted? According to Weber the answer is
simple, and straightforward. The world is disenchanted when it is assumed that one can in
principle master all things by calculations.14 In other terminology Weber says that the fate of
our times is the disenchantment of the world by which he meant the dissipation of mysterious
incalculable forces from the workings of nature.15 He advances that, an intellectualist
rationalism promoted first and foremost by the growing empirical sciences had shifted people’s
epistemic attitude to the world, now holding that any phenomenon is knowable in principle and
that knowledge and mastery of the world is obtainable through technical means and
calculations.16 The disenchantment of the world had very specific consequences for the relation
between religion and science. So in principle for Weber, the world is disenchanted when man’s
bearing towards his environment both natural and social is informed by the belief that it can be
manipulated by means of calculations. Taking from this background onwards, Weber rejects
the de facto mastery of the world because it is not a precondition for disenchantment; rather,
the world is disenchanted when it is perceived as potential object of mastery regardless of the
actual level of calculative control attained by a particular social order.17
Moreover, Weber also makes it clear in his arguments that, the disenchanted world
basing from what has been said in the few lines above, need no longer have recourse to magical
means in order to master or implore the spirit as did the savage, for whom such mysterious
powers existed. Now technical means and calculations perform the service. Science and
technology replaces magic as the preferred means of control. The general picture painted here
for a disenchanted world by Weber, is one in which all domains within society are restructured
in accordance with the demands of technological rationality. It assumes all things can be
mastered through calculations as already mentioned18and scientific progress is the most
important element in the intellectualization of the world.
1.2.2. Disenchantment of Nature
Weber talks of the disenchantment of the world to signify that modernity is
distinguished by an understanding that assumes all things and not just non-human nature can
be mastered through calculations. Now the object of a disenchanted world includes the natural
14 Gilbert. G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 4. 15 Weber, Max. ‘Science as a Vocation’. In: H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Trans. and eds.), From Max
Weber: Essays in Sociology, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946). 155. 16 Ibid, 139. 17 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 28. 18 Ibid 39.
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and the human dimension comes in too. In the natural society according to Weber, reality was
confronted through mediation. Here the spirit interposes itself between the human and the
natural realm. So while in the magical society, reality was confronted through mediation or
indirectly, the modern sciences confronts its object directly. So the magician current
counterpart no longer operates under the assumption that nature is alive and in possession of
an unfathomable life-force.
Rather than viewing nature as some kind of recalcitrant benefactor who has to be
cajoled into dispensing a few meager; the modern scientists regard nature as an impersonal
order whose abducasy is an illusion created by human ignorance of its ways. The repacaustion
of the world of this height is quite dramatic. To sum up, the disenchanted of nature from
Weber’s perspective, simply becomes a movement away from deifying the world, and making
the world a control rather than be controlled. Enchantment of the world in the form of stewards
loses its taste to a disenchanted world where dominance of the world is the hour of the time.
Instead of the world to be seen as being guided by or controlled or conditioned by spiritual
forces residing it, the world is just seen to be the way it is an there is nothing so spectacular or
fascinating about it.
1.3.RATIONALIZATION
Rationalization is the movement over time away from institutional structures that
engender actions based on the emotional, mystical, traditional, and religious, toward
institutional structures that produce actions based on reason, calculability, predictability, and
efficiency. It was in the light of his theory on rationalization that Weber viewed both the
progress and the growing disenchantment of Germany.
The rationalization process is the practical application of knowledge to achieve a
desired end. It leads to efficiency, coordination, and control over both the physical and the
social environment.19 It is a product of scientific specialization and technical differentiation
that seems to be a characteristic of Western culture. It is the guiding principle behind
bureaucracy and the increasing division of labor as Weber will put it. It has led to the
unprecedented increase in both the production and distribution of goods and services. It is also
associated with secularization, depersonalization, and oppressive routine. Increasingly, human
behavior is guided by observation, experiment and reason (zweckrational) to master the natural
19 Freund, Julien (1968). The Sociology of Max Weber. (New York: Vintage Books), 69.
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and social environment to achieve a desired end.20 Rationalization is the most general element
of Weber's theory. He identifies rationalization with an increasing division of labor,
bureaucracy and mechanization.21 He associates it with depersonalization, oppressive routine,
rising secularism, as well as being destructive of individual freedom.
1.3.1. Modes of Rationalization
In order to make sense of Weber’s somewhat convoluted theory of rationalization
especially as related to the linkage between the two disenchantment of nature and the world, it
is important to note as Honigshein puts it, that, the many strands of the intellectualization
process issue from a common source.22 This is to say that the various intellectualizations are
instances of a single mode of rationality. These modes are seen in the tension between what
Weber calls formal and substantive rationality respectively. I shall briefly comment on these
two. But I shall also touch on the other modes or types of rationality which are practical and
theoretical rationalization.
1.3.1.1. Formal Rationality
Formal rationality refers to the reasoning process that determines the means necessary
to attain an intellectual operation focusing exclusively on the means.23 Formal rationality is
strategic thinking. Its sole aim according to Weber is to find a way to get from one point to
another, not to determine whether the endpoint is a goal worth pursuing or indifferent with
respect to ends values or the question of content.24 It is not intrinsically directed towards any
particular purpose. For this reason, Weber holds that it is value neutral, instrumental or
technical intellectual operation. Thus we find Weber employing a wide variety of descriptive
terms in refereeing it, such as purposive rationality, instrumental rationality, means end
rationality and technical rationality. Freund will call it technocratic thinking.
1.3.1.2. Substantive Rationality.
Substantive rationality on the other hand refers to the value of end as perceived from a
particular point of view. An ascetic for example perceives his continent to the value of rational
end given his commitment to the value of asceticism. For Weber action of an ascetic constitutes
value rational behavior because they flow from a conscious belief in the intrinsic worth of this
20 Elwell, Frank W. (1999), Industrializing America: Understanding Contemporary Society through Classical
Sociological Analysis. (West Port, Connecticut: Praeger). 21 Gerth, Hans and C. Wright Mills (translators and editors). 1946 (1958) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology.
(New York: Galaxy Books). 22 Honigshein Paul (1968), On Marx Weber, (New York: Free Press), 25. 23 George Reitzer (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theories, 143. 24 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 36.
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way of acting. But this understanding of formal and substantive rationally is subjectively
defined as Weber will put it.25
1.3.1.3. Practical Rationality
Practical rationality is based on an individual's experience and context. By considering
their observations in light of their desired ends, individuals weigh their options and pursue the
actions that are most likely to bring about those ends. Practical rationality is pragmatic and
assumes action. Weber believed, like Sigmund Freud and later Michele Foucault, that culture
and its institutions of rationality shape practical reason. Thus, this type of rationality according
to Weber exists as a manifestation of man's capacity for means-end rational action. Wherever
the bonds of primitive magic have been severed, the capability and disposition of persons for
practical rational patterns of action appears whether in ages deeply imprinted by ethical
salvation religions or in fully secular epochs.26
1.3.1.4. Formal Rationality
This type of rationality involves a conscious mastery of reality through the
construction of increasingly precise abstract concepts rather than through action. Since a
cognitive confrontation with one's experience prevails here, such thought processes as logical
deduction and induction, the attribution of causality, and the formation of symbolic "meanings"
are typical. More generally, all abstract cognitive processes, in all their expansive active forms,
denote theoretical rationality.27
Weber discovered a great variety of systematic thinkers who practiced this type of
rationality. In the earliest stages of history, sorcerers and ritualistic priests sought abstract
means of taming nature and the super- natural. With the appearance of ethical salvation
religions, ethical priests, monks, and theologians rationalized the values implicit in doctrines
into internally consistent constellations of values, or world views that offered comprehensive
explanations for the perpetuation of suffering. Philosophers of all shades have also pondered
nature and society and have repeatedly refined conceptual schemes that explained their
workings. Theoretical rationalization processes may also be carried out by judges who interpret
25 Ibid, 36.
26 Talcott Parsons, (1930), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (New York :) 27 Weber, Max. ‘Science as a Vocation
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the incipient world view found in political constitutions or by the disciples of a revolutionary
theorist, such as those that have continually arisen to refine Marxian doctrine.28
From this background one can confirm with other theories that Formal rationality
typifies bureaucratic institutions. Formal rationality embraces the norms, rules, and laws of
economic, legal, and scientific organizations. With the rise of the rational structures within the
church, even religion has become subjected to formal rationality. Adherence to formal
rationality is based on an impersonal bond. This bond, something Sigmund Freud called guilt
and Michel Foucault termed discipline, imposes adherence and action Formal rationality is the
most coercive rationality and the most prevalent in social structures.
1.4. AN ASSESSMENT OF MAX WEBER
Positive Assessment
Large questions about the modern world drove Weber’s sociology. Scholars tend to say
at times that Weber’s line of thought is very complicated. But what Weber was grappling with
is the fate of ethical action, the unique individual, the personality unified by reference to a
constellation of noble values and compassion in the industrial society. He was also trying to
make a point on the question that: what does the rise of capitalism imply for the type of person
who will live within this new cosmos. How can we understand the subjectively meaningful
action of persons in other civilizations and epochs on their own terms rather than by reference
to hierarchy of western values? What are the parameters for social change in the west?
According to Reitzer, Sociologists today rarely ask questions of this magnitude. Weber
created a rigorous and distinct approach that combined concrete empirical description with
theoretical generalization. Distinguished by its staggering comparative and historical breath,
his sociology investigates the social action of persons by reference to values, traditions interest
and emotions.29 One interesting thing we may notice about Weber as Ritzer would say is that
Weber’s sociology seeks to offer causal analysis of unique cases and proceeds by reference to
ideal types , societal domains, social contexts and the exploration of subjective meaning.30
28 Ibid. 29 George Reitzer (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theories, ( Australia: Blackwell
Publishing), 143 30 Ibid, 182
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Weber’s thought emphasize that the past is ineluctably intertwined with the present and assert
that the orientation of social action to religious, economic, rulership, legal familial and status
group factors all must be acknowledged as causally significant; geographical forces, power,
social carriers, historical events, competition, conflict and technology must also be recognized
as viable causal forces.
I must praise Weber for the line of thought he displays in his historical process and how
he brings the whole concept of disenchantment placing rationality at the center of the trajectory.
He can be hailed for contributing to how a movement from one historical process to another
shaped society.
Negative Assessment
The first thing that I would I like to point out as far as Weber is concern is that his
material is too tough to crack. He wrote in German and as the saying goes every translation is
a betrayal. But coming back to his concept of rationality, I would say that he determined history
to be following a rational process. Rationality is the moving force of history. Even in his
concept of disenchantment it is the movement away from superstition and magic towards a
world where reason reigns supreme.
It is too much to assume that Europe or the west or his confined Germany, being what
it is, is solely a product of rationality or has being guided by rational forces and reason alone.
That is the kind of flavour one gets in Weber’s line of thought. Every era of history has
something that made the society of that time to be what it is. But for modern society to reach
where, it is, it’s a combination of factors; raging from religious, cultural, anthropological,
geographical and social. An idealistic approach to reality has its own short comings.
Although he might followed a multi-facet structure in his line of thought, unlike Karl
Marx who followed a linear historical process; there are still such overtones registered in
Weber’s frame work. A closer look at his method can also lead one to say that his historical
conception is linear. Because we have a time were magic reigns and at some point magic gives
way to religion and religion soon gives way to reason and science and technology. This kind
of movement is evolutionist.
Considering the underlying philosophical assumptions of disenchantment, there are
primarily two points that should be mentioned. The first is epistemic optimism about gaining
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knowledge of the physical world. The second is scepticism concerning knowledge of meaning
and value, as well as of metaphysics. These twin points govern the ideal relationship between
science and religion in a disenchanted world. The principal meaning of the disenchantment of
the world was the dissipation of ‘mysterious incalculable forces. As a matter of principle
modern ‘empirical science’ has expelled the possibility of genuinely capricious events. This is
the basis of the epistemic optimism: since no essentially unpredictable causal forces exist in
the world, everything can be explained, determined and mastered by calculations and
technological interventions. Uncovering the mechanisms of nature in this way is the business
of ‘empirical science. To also say that everything is to be measured by calculations is a
shortcoming in Weber’s thought. There are certain mysteries about the world that go beyond
science abd beyond reason and no human mind can measure or calculate.
CONCLUSION
Max Weber remains one of the prominent sociologists that have moved scholars of our
time. His thoughts have moved society and change society too. Though his works are complex
to understand he has remained a great model for sociologists. Form all that has been said, one
can deduced that all Max Weber is trying to do is, as a sociologist he is naturally drawn towards
understanding why individuals in a given setting act as they do. From his theory of
disenchantment one can say taking from a sociological perspective that, Max Weber purpose
was not to prove how science disenchanted the world. But how is it that human beings have
come to act as if the world is disenchanted. So Weber was primarily concerned with those
forces in society which have the ability to substantively reinforce or alter patterns of human
behaviour.