: Discuss the Contributions of Max Weber as a Founding Father of Sociology |

Max Weber born as Karl Emil Maxmillian Webe (1864 – 1920); a German Sociologist, philosopher and political economist with ideas that influenced; social theory, social research and entire discipline of sociology. Weber as one of the three known founding fathers of Sociology is mostly cited with the other founding fathers; Karl Marx and Emil Durkheim in social field.

Weber has been prominent in methodological antipositivism, where he argues the study of social action through interpretation of ideas. In his arguments, Weber sees the urge to look at ideas, especially the meanings put onto things and the role of changes of ideas that contribute to society and social changes. His main concern was to understand the processes of rationalization, secularization and disenchantment that he associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity; which resulted to a new way of thinking about the world.

He used the German word “verstehen” to discuss deeper understanding of the meanings people put to things; a word that is still used in today’s sociology to analyze the important elements of culture and society.

Weber was best known for his thesis combining economic sociology and the sociology of religion as explained in his book: “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” which he proposed that ascetic Protestanism was one of the major elective affinities associate with the rise in Western world of market-driven capitalism and the rational-legal non-state; against Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism. His emphasis was on the importance of cultural influence based on religion as means of understanding the beginning of capitalism.

The Protestant Ethic lead to Weber’s broader investigations into world religion: he went on to examine religion with particular regard to the apparent