Weber's Works (II): Types of Economic and Historical Domination: Damage to the spine or cover

Author: Max Weber (Germany)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Nature, an individual economy can adopt capitalist methods within a wide range of variations. Some parts of the economic supply may be organized in a capitalist manner, while others are based on handicrafts or manorial forms. Therefore, as early as Genoa, some political needs, such as warfare, were provided through capitalist joint-stock companies. During the Roman Empire, the food supply of the capital was managed by officials. For this purpose, these officials not only had the authority to command subordinate officials but also had control over transportation companies, thus combining the organization of tribute or forced labor with the management of public utilities. Today, unlike most of the past, our daily needs are met through capitalist means, yet political needs are fulfilled through forced labor, such as military service or jury duty. Only when the supply of needs has been so thoroughly capitalistized that we would imagine the entire economic system would collapse if this form of organization were to disappear, can this era be considered a typical capitalist era. Not all forms of domination use economic means, and even less are they aimed at economic interests. However, in general, if the ruled are numerous, the exercise of domination must rely on administrative staff (Verwaltungsstab, see Chapter 1, Section 12 of Economy and Society). This particular group is usually entrusted with implementing general policies and special directives. The members of the administrative staff's obedience to the ruler (Herr) may be based on habit, emotional ties, material interests, or idealistic (wertrational) motives. These different motives determine different forms of domination. If the bond between the administrative staff and the ruler is based purely on material interests or considerations of mutual benefit, this bond must necessarily be unstable. There are usually other factors, such as emotional or idealistic ones, to supplement the shortcomings of material interest considerations. In certain special non-routine situations, material interests alone may play a decisive role. In daily life, these relationships, like other interpersonal relationships, are determined by habit and material interest considerations. However, as the foundation of domination, relying solely on habit, personal interests, pure emotions, or idealistic motives to bind together is still insufficient. In addition to these, there is usually another factor required, namely, the belief in legitimacy. In this case, the process of determining successors is "pre-selection" from the administrative staff, "nomination" by the incumbent leader, and "election" by the entire group for recognition. Originally, charismatic leaders who had independently acquired legitimacy now rely on the goodwill of their followers: because now their followers can freely elect them or even remove them, just as the loss of their charismatic endowment and ability would cause them to lose true legitimacy. Now he is a leader freely elected by the people.