In Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism, the historical origin of bureaucracy is to be found in four sources: religion, the formation of the state, commerce and technology. Thus, the earliest bureaucracies consisted of castes of religious clergy, officials and scribes operating various rituals, and armed functionaries specifically delegated to keep order. In the historical transition from primitive egalitarian communities to a civil society divided into social classes and estates, occurring about 10,000 years ago ...

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Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Origin of the concept, Bureaucracy - Karl Marx and bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Max Weber on bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Criticism

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More than in most other countries the churches are actively involved in disseminating information and warnings about sects and cults (the German word Sekte is used in both senses) and new religious movements. The state churches are generally regarded as experts regarding religious subjects and such information is expected from them by the public. In public opinion, minor religious groups are often referred to as Sekten, that can both refer to destructive cults but also to all religious movements which are not Christian or diffe ...

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Religion in Germany, Religion in Germany - Religious Communities in Germany, Religion in Germany - Religious Freedom in Germany, Religion in Germany - Cults Sects and New Religious Movements

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The German constitution guarantees freedom of faith and religion. It also states that no one may be discriminated against due to their faith or religious opinions. However, unlike some other countries, cooperation between the state and religious communities is entirely in keeping with the German constitution. Religious communities that are of considerable size and stability and are loyal to the constitution can be recognized as "corporations under public law". This gives them certain privileges, for example being able to give religious instr ...

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Religion in Germany, Religion in Germany - Religious Communities in Germany, Religion in Germany - Religious Freedom in Germany, Religion in Germany - Cults Sects and New Religious Movements

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The origins of Western Culture are often cited as ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and as such, some describe it as "Judeo-Christian culture." However, its source also lies prominently in the Germanic, Slavic and Celtic popular cultures that took part in the formation of the culture of medieval Europe. Western culture has developed a plethora of literary, musical, philosophical, religious, and other traditions. Important traditions were: Scholasticism Roman CatholicismSee also:

Western culture, Western culture - Description, Western culture - Foundations, Western culture - History, Western culture - Hegemony, Western culture - Multiculturalism, Western culture - Beyond art and politics, Western culture - Opinions

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Bureaucracy is derived from the word bureau, used from the early 18th century in Western Europe not just to refer to a writing desk, but to an office, i.e. a workplace where officials worked. The original French meaning of the word "bureau" was the baize used to cover desks. The term bureaucracy came into use shortly before the French Revolution of 1789, and from there rapidly spread to other countries. The Greek suffix -kratia or kratos - means "power" or rule. Bureaucracy thus basically means offi ...

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Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Origin of the concept, Bureaucracy - Karl Marx and bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Max Weber on bureaucracy, Bureaucracy - Criticism

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It is argued that the book should not be viewed as a detailed study of Protestantism but rather as an introduction into Weber's later works, especially his studies of interaction between various religious ideas and economics. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber puts forward the thesis that Puritan ethics and ideas had influenced the development of capitalism. However, religious devotion was usually accompanied by rejection of worldly affairs, including the pursuit of wealth and possessions. Why was that ...

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The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Book contents, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Table of contents, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Related books

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Most of the representatives of any dynasty ruling for more than one generation (kings, emperors, etc.) would fall into that category. Thus majority monarchies and some autocracies, oligarchies and theocracies would be ruled by traditional leaders. Often male head of a common family should be considered a traditional leader. This could also be the case in a family-owned business, if its director and other ...

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Traditional authority, Traditional authority - Traditional authority in Sociology, Traditional authority - Patriarchs and their households, Traditional authority - Patrimonalism, Traditional authority - Feudalism, Traditional authority - Traditional leaders

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The ancient Greek conception of science, philosophy, democracy, architecture, literature, and art provided a foundation embraced and built upon by the Roman Empire as it swept up Greece in its conquests in the 1st century BC. For five hundred years, the Roman Empire spread the Greek and Latin languages and Roman law across Europe, although it rejected the democratic concepts pioneered in ancient Greece. Roman culture mixed with Germanic, Slavic cultures, and Celtic culture but, after the fall of Rome, much Greco-Roman art, lite ...

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Western culture, Western culture - Description, Western culture - Foundations, Western culture - History, Western culture - Hegemony, Western culture - Multiculturalism, Western culture - Beyond art and politics, Western culture - Opinions

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It can be said that elements of Western culture have had a very influential role on other cultures worldwide. People of many cultures, both Western and non-Western, equate "modernization" with "westernization," but many non-westerners object to the implication that all societies should adopt western ideas and values. Some members of more radical-thinking communities in the non-Western world have suggested that this potential link is a reason why much of "modernity" should be rejected as intrinsically Western and thus incomp ...

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Western culture, Western culture - Description, Western culture - Foundations, Western culture - History, Western culture - Hegemony, Western culture - Multiculturalism, Western culture - Beyond art and politics, Western culture - Opinions

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In Ancient Judaism, Weber deals specifically with the following ares: Ancient Judaism book - Types of Asceticism and the Significance of Ancient Judaism. Weber noted that some aspects of Christianity sought to conquer and change the world, instead of withdrawing form its imperfections. This fundamental distinctiveness of Christianity (when compared to Far East religions) stems originally from the ancient Jewish prophecy. Weber ...

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Ancient Judaism book, Ancient Judaism book - Book content, Ancient Judaism book - Types of Asceticism and the Significance of Ancient Judaism, Ancient Judaism book - History and Social Organization of Ancient Palestine, Ancient Judaism book - Political Organization and Religious Ideas in the Time of the Confederacy and the Early Kings, Ancient Judaism book - Political Decline Religious Conflict and Biblical Prophecy

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The majority of modern politicians represent this type of authority. Weber distinguished between bureaucratic officials and political leaders. An official must exercise his judgment and his skills, but his duty is to place these at the service of a higher authority; ultimately he is responsible only for the impartial execution of assigned tasks and must sacrifice his personal judgment if it runs counter to his official duties. Other qualities of an official: he is personally free and appointed to his positio ...

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Rational-legal authority, Rational-legal authority - Rational-legal authority in sociology, Rational-legal authority - Legal rationality and legitimacy, Rational-legal authority - Emergence of the modern state, Rational-legal authority - Modern state - bureaucracy and politics, Rational-legal authority - Rational-legal leaders

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Part 1. The Problem I. Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification Occupation; Religious Regulation; Work Ethic; Economic Rationalism; Protestantism vs. Catholicism; Business Spirit; Capitalist Counties; Our Focus. II. The Spirit of Capitalism Historical Individuality; Benjamin Franklin; Capitalist Ethos; Modern vs. Pre-modern Capitalism; Rationalism vs. Traditionalism; Ethos and Religious Idea; Idea of Calling.See also:

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Book contents, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Table of contents, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Related books

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The approach was developed by Harold Garfinkel, based on Alfred Schütz's phenomenological reconstruction of Max Weber's verstehen sociology. While ethnomethodology is often seen as removed from more mainstream sociology, it has been extremely influential. For instance, ethnomethodology has always focused on the ways in which words are reliant for their meaning on the context in which they are used (they are 'indexical'). This has led to insights into the objectivity of social science and the difficulty in establishing a description of human behavior which ha ...

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Ethnomethodology, Ethnomethodology - History and Influence, Ethnomethodology - Some leading policies and methods

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Pre-bureaucratic structures lack standardization of tasks. This structure is most common in smaller organizations and is best used to solve simple tasks. They have a very flat hierarchy and most communication is done by one on one conversations. They are usually based on traditional domination or charismatic domination in the sense of Max Weber's tripartite classification of authority. Organizational structure - Bureaucratic. Bureaucratic structures have a certain degree of standardization. They are better suited for more complex or larger scale tasks. See also:

Organizational structure, Organizational structure - Pre-bureaucratic, Organizational structure - Bureaucratic, Organizational structure - Functional Structure, Organizational structure - Divisional Structure, Organizational structure - Post-Bureaucratic, Organizational structure - Matrix organization

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Max Weber made a distinction between innerweltliche and ausserweltliche asceticism, which means (roughly) "inside the world" and "outside the world". Talcott Parsons translated these as "worldly" and "otherworldly" (some translators use "inner-worldly", but that has a different connotation in English and is probably not what Weber had in mind). "Otherworldly" asceticism refers to people who withdraw from the world in order to live an ascetic life (this includes monks who live communally in monasteries, as well as hermits who live alone). "Worldly" asceticism refers to people who ...

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Asceticism, Asceticism - Etymology, Asceticism - Worldly vs Otherworldly, Asceticism - Religious vs Secular motivation, Asceticism - Religious Motivation, Asceticism - Secular Motivation

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Antipositivism evolved in the 19th century, when sociological positivism and sociological naturalism begun to be questioned by scientists like Wilhelm Dilthey and Heinrich Rickert, who argued that the world of nature is not the same as the world of society, as human societies have unique aspects like meanings, symbols, rules, norms, and values—all that can be described as the culture. This view was further developed by Max Weber, who introduced the term antipositivism (also known as humanistic sociology). According to this view, clo ...

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Antipositivism, Antipositivism - Evolution of the concept, Antipositivism - Critique of the positivism, Antipositivism - Overview of non-positivistic approaches

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Erich Fromm started his studies in 1918 at the University of Frankfurt am Main with two semesters of jurisprudence. During the summer semester of 1919, Fromm studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he switched from studying jurisprudence to studying sociology under Alfred Weber (brother of Max Weber), Karl Jaspers, and Heinrich Rickert. Fromm received his Ph.D. in sociology from Heidelberg in 1922, and completed his psychoanalytical training in 1930 at the Psychoanalytical Institute in Berlin. In that same year, he began his own clini ...

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Erich Fromm, Erich Fromm - Life, Erich Fromm - Psychological theory, Erich Fromm - Politics, Erich Fromm - Major works

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In sociology, value theory is concerned with personal values which are popularly held by a community, and how those values might change under particular conditions. Different groups of people may hold or prioritise different kinds of values influencing social behaviour. Major Western theorists include Max Weber, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Jurgen Habermas, and methods of study range from questionnaire surveys ...

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Value theory, Value theory - Origins, Value theory - Characteristics, Value theory - Psychology, Value theory - Sociology, Value theory - Ecological Economics

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In some ways, institutionalism and the analysis of the way institutions affect our society are as old as the Greek Philosophers. Thinkers for thousands of years have recognized that insititutions interact with one another in ways that can be studied and understood. Sociologists in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century began to systematize this study. Economist and Social theorist Max Weber focused on the ways bureaucracy and institutions were coming to dominate our society with his notion of the iron ...

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New institutionalism, New institutionalism - History, New institutionalism - Introduction to New Institutionalism, New institutionalism - Interdisciplinary relevance

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Niccolò Machiavelli (Florence, 1469-1527), best known for his Il Principe was the founder of realist political philosophy, advocated republican government, citizen armies, division of power, protection of personal property, and restraint of government expenditure as being necessary to the liberties of a republic. He wrote extensively on the need for individual initiative - virtu - as an essential characteristic of stable government. He argued that liberty was the central good which government should protect, and that "g ...

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Contributions to liberal theory, Contributions to liberal theory - Niccolò Machiavelli, Contributions to liberal theory - Desiderius Erasmus, Contributions to liberal theory - Hugo Grotius, Contributions to liberal theory - Thomas Hobbes, Contributions to liberal theory - Baruch Spinoza, Contributions to liberal theory - John Locke, Contributions to liberal theory - John Trenchard, Contributions to liberal theory - Charles de Montesquieu, Contributions to liberal theory - Thomas Gordon, Contributions to liberal theory - François Quesnay, Contributions to liberal theory - Voltaire, Contributions to liberal theory - Benjamin Franklin, Contributions to liberal theory - David Hume, Contributions to liberal theory - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Contributions to liberal theory - Denis Diderot, Contributions to liberal theory - Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Contributions to liberal theory - Samuel Adams, Contributions to liberal theory - Richard Price, Contributions to liberal theory - Anders Chydenius, Contributions to liberal theory - Adam Smith, Contributions to liberal theory - William Blackstone, Contributions to liberal theory - Immanuel Kant, Contributions to liberal theory - Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Contributions to liberal theory - Edmund Burke, Contributions to liberal theory - Joseph Priestley, Contributions to liberal theory - August Ludwig von Schlözer, Contributions to liberal theory - Patrick Henry, Contributions to liberal theory - Thomas Paine, Contributions to liberal theory - Thomas Jefferson, Contributions to liberal theory - Marquis de Condorcet, Contributions to liberal theory - Jeremy Bentham, Contributions to liberal theory - Emmanuel Sieyès, Contributions to liberal theory - James Madison, Contributions to liberal theory - Alexander Hamilton, Contributions to liberal theory - Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, Contributions to liberal theory - Benjamin Constant, Contributions to liberal theory - Jean-Baptiste Say, Contributions to liberal theory - Wilhelm von Humboldt, Contributions to liberal theory - David Ricardo, Contributions to liberal theory - James Mill, Contributions to liberal theory - Friedrich List, Contributions to liberal theory - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Contributions to liberal theory - Frédéric Bastiat, Contributions to liberal theory - Harriet Martineau, Contributions to liberal theory - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Contributions to liberal theory - Alexis de Tocqueville, Contributions to liberal theory - William Lloyd Garrison, Contributions to liberal theory - John Stuart Mill, Contributions to liberal theory - Abraham Lincoln, Contributions to liberal theory - Juan Bautista Alberdi, Contributions to liberal theory - Henry David Thoreau, Contributions to liberal theory - Jakob Burkhardt, Contributions to liberal theory - Herbert Spencer, Contributions to liberal theory - Thomas Hill Green, Contributions to liberal theory - Carl Menger, Contributions to liberal theory - William Graham Sumner, Contributions to liberal theory - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Contributions to liberal theory - Lujo Brentano, Contributions to liberal theory - Tomás Masaryk, Contributions to liberal theory - Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Contributions to liberal theory - Louis Brandeis, Contributions to liberal theory - Thorstein Veblen, Contributions to liberal theory - John Dewey, Contributions to liberal theory - Friedrich Naumann, Contributions to liberal theory - Max Weber, Contributions to liberal theory - Leonard Hobhouse, Contributions to liberal theory - Benedetto Croce, Contributions to liberal theory - Walther Rathenau, Contributions to liberal theory - William Beveridge, Contributions to liberal theory - Ludwig von Mises, Contributions to liberal theory - John Maynard Keynes, Contributions to liberal theory - José Ortega y Gasset, Contributions to liberal theory - Salvador de Madariaga, Contributions to liberal theory - Upton Sinclair, Contributions to liberal theory - Will Durant, Contributions to liberal theory - Adolf Berle, Contributions to liberal theory - Wilhelm Röpke, Contributions to liberal theory - Bertil Ohlin, Contributions to liberal theory - Friedrich Hayek, Contributions to liberal theory - Karl Popper, Contributions to liberal theory - Alan Paton, Contributions to liberal theory - John Hicks, Contributions to liberal theory - Raymond Aron, Contributions to liberal theory - Simone de Beauvoir, Contributions to liberal theory - John Kenneth Galbraith, Contributions to liberal theory - Isaiah Berlin, Contributions to liberal theory - Milton Friedman, Contributions to liberal theory - Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Contributions to liberal theory - James Buchanan, Contributions to liberal theory - John Rawls, Contributions to liberal theory - Murray Newton Rothbard, Contributions to liberal theory - Gore Vidal, Contributions to liberal theory - Noam Chomsky, Contributions to liberal theory - Ralf Dahrendorf, Contributions to liberal theory - Karl-Hermann Flach, Contributions to liberal theory - Joseph Raz, Contributions to liberal theory - Ronald Dworkin, Contributions to liberal theory - Richard Rorty, Contributions to liberal theory - Amartya Sen, Contributions to liberal theory - Robert Nozick, Contributions to liberal theory - Hernando de Soto, Contributions to liberal theory - Bruce Ackerman, Contributions to liberal theory - Joseph Stiglitz, Contributions to liberal theory - Martha Nussbaum, Contributions to liberal theory - Francis Fukuyama, Contributions to liberal theory - Dirk Verhofstadt, Contributions to liberal theory - Will Kymlicka

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Though it traces its roots back to Max Weber and earlier, organizational studies is generally considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific management in the 1890s, with Taylorism representing the peak of this movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies would lead to increased productivity. Studies o ...

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Organizational studies, Organizational studies - Overview of the field, Organizational studies - History, Organizational studies - Current state of the field

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