Basic Concepts of Sociology: The Century Human Culture Series

Author: Weber
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book is the foundation for understanding Weber's main work "Economy and Society" and even the entirety of Weber's thought. In a sense, it is also the foundation for understanding modern sociology and the entire social sciences. The basic content of this book first appeared in Weber's 1913 paper "On Some Categories of Understanding Sociology." After World War II, Weber rewrote the paper to serve as an introductory conceptual definition for his planned work on social economics, transforming it into an independent part with the title "Basic Concepts of Sociology." The concepts in this book serve as a guide to Weber's thought. "Society" refers to a science that attempts to descriptively understand social behavior and, thereby, to make causal explanations of the processes and functions of this behavior. "Behavior" here means human action, as long as this action is subjectively intended by the actor. "Social" behavior refers to a type of action that is related to the behavior of others according to the actor's intention and, in the process, targets the behavior of others.