Weber’s Contribution to Sociology
Max Weber has defined sociology in his own way. Weber’s definition is found on his book, “The theory of social and economic organization”. He defined sociology as, “sociology is the science which attempts to explain social action in order to arrive at the causal explanation of its results”. In simple words sociology is that science of social action which is related to the causal explanation of human behavior”. This definition of Weber brings three important facts.
- The chief purpose of sociology is to understand the nature and causes of social action.
- It tries to draw the causal pattern of social action.
- It tries to know about the results of social action.
So, Weber says that, sociology is concerned with nature, causal relation and results of social action. Max Weber studied social sciences in the same manner as the study of natural sciences. For this purpose he formulated a methodology which is applicable to both social and natural sciences. In both cases we deal with material objects as well as social objects. For both objects we are concerned with the following relations.
- Explanation and understanding of human behavior.
- The emotions of human beings.
