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Politics as a Vocation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Politics as a Vocation (Politik als Beruf) is an essay by German economist and sociologist Max Weber. It
originated in a lecture he gave to the Free Students Union of Munich University, in January 1919, during the
German Revolution.
In his essay Weber states that politics is the art of compromise and decision making based on social benefits
weighed against costs; in this respect, political action cannot be rooted only in conviction, since one's
conviction can be another's social anathema. Using as an example Christianity, seen as a core conviction,
Weber affirms that a politician cannot only be a man of "true Christian ethic" (understood in terms "turning the
other cheek"). The political realm is no realm for saints. A politician should marry the ethic of ultimate ends
with an ethic of responsibility. The latter, which is the ultimate criterion for judging politicians, should take
into account all that is at stake in making a political decision, namely all the convictions and the relative weight
and moral importance. A politician must possess both passion for his vocation and the capacity to distance
himself from the subject of his exertions (the governed).
The lecture introduces a definition of the state that has become pivotal to Western social thought: that the state
is that entity which claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of force, which it may therefore elect to delegate
as it sees fit. Politics is to be understood as any activity in which the state might engage in order to influence
the relative distribution of force. Politics thus comes to obtain two power-based concepts, to be understood as
deriving of power.
Contents
1 Three grounds for legitimate rule
2 The two forms of the state
3 See also
4 External links
Three grounds for legitimate rule
Weber defines politics as a form of "independent leadership activity". In this essay, the "state" serves as the
placeholder for the analysis of political organizations. The grounds for the legitimate rule of these political
organizations, according to Weber, fall into three major categories, or types:
Traditional
The authority of "eternal past," based on habit. Weber defines custom as largely patriarchal, patrimonial,
and traditional in scope.
Gift of grace/charisma
The authority of the "revelations, heroism, or other leadership qualities of an individual". Associated
with "charisma" of prophets, demagogues, and popular vote.
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Statutes
Legal rational authority, legality based on valid statutes. Based on rational competence and obedience of
the "servant of the state".
The two forms of the state
Weber focuses his analysis on "political organizations", i.e. "states", and identifies two general forms of the
state, supposedly encompassing all state forms at the most general level:
1. The administrative staff beneath the ruler in status and power has its own means of administration
separate from those of the ruler. This can include various forms of wealth and possessions, as well as
means of production and control over labor. This administrative staff is essentially aristocratic,
subdivided into distinct estates;
2. The administrative staff is completely or partially separated from the actual tools of administration, i.e.,
how the proletariat is separated from the means of production. This staff become confidants without
means in a patriarchal organization of deference and delegation.
Weber delineates two different ideas of the "state" based on the relationship between the administrators and
their access to the actual means of administration. The second form of the state is considered to be modern; the
administrators do not own the money, buildings, and organizations they direct but are in the process of
becoming expropriated expropriators by the actions of the monarch or the higher ruling class. With this
expropriation completed, the leaders are then free to invest all resources in what way they choose, executive
decisions often remaining with the discretion of the highest representatives.
See also
Monopoly of the legitimate use of force
Sociology
Politics
Verstehen
Gandhi as a Political Strategist (chapter 11 critiques Weber's ethical typology)
External links
English translation of Politics as a Vocation (http://anthropos-lab.net/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/Weber-Politics-as-a-Vocation.pdf)
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Categories: Political science books Sociology books 1919 books Works by Max Weber
This page was last modified on 26 December 2013 at 21:11.
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