INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

Max Weber (1864-1920; pronounced "Vay-ber") was greatly influenced by Marx's work and built upon it. But, whereas Marx saw economics as the basic organizing element of society, Weber theorized that society had three basic dimensions: political, economic, and cultural. According to Weber, a complete sociologi­cal analysis must recognize the interplay between economic, political, and cultural institutions (Parsons 1947). Weber is credited with developing a multidimensional analysis of society that goes beyond Marx's more one-dimensional focus on economics.

Weber also theorized extensively about the relation­ship of sociology to social and political values. He did not believe there could be a value-free sociology because values would always influence what sociologists consid­ered worthy of study. Weber thought sociologists should acknowledge the influence of values so that ingrained be­liefs might not interfere with objectivity. Weber pro­fessed that the task of sociologists is to teach students the uncomfortable truth about the world. Faculty should not use their positions to promote their political opinions, he felt; rather, they have a responsibility to examine all opinions, including unpopular ones, and use the tools of rigorous sociological inquiry to understand why people believe and behave as they do.

 

Max Weber used a multidi­mensional approach to ana­lyzing society, interpreting the economic, cultural, and political organization of society as together shaping social institutions and social

 

An important concept in Weber's sociology is verstehen (pronounced, "ver-shtay-en"). Verstehen, a German word, refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it. Weber believed that to under­stand social behavior one had to understand the meaning that a behavior had for social actors. He did not believe so­ciologists had to be born into a group to understand it (in other words, he didn't believe "it rakes one to know one"), but he did think sociologists had to develop some subjec­tive understanding of how other people experience their world. One major contribution from Weber was the defi­nition of social action as a behavior to which people give meaning (Gerth and Mills 1946; Parsons 1951b; Weber 1962). In other words, social behavior is more than just ac­tion; people do things in a context and use their interpre­tive abilities to understand and give meaning to their ac­tion. Weber's work emphasized this subjective dimension of social life. Like Durkheim and Marx, Weber continues to have a profound impact on sociology.

 

 

Федеральное государственное образовательное учреждение

высшего профессионального образования

«Астраханский государственный технический университет»

 

 

Кафедра «Иностранные языки в гуманитарном

и естественнонаучном образовании»

 

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

(введение в менеджмент)

Методическое пособие для студентов 1-2 курсoв специальности 340000 «Управление качеством»

 

Астрахань – 2006

 

 

 

Авторы: профессор кафедры ИЯГЕНО, д.ф.н. Дроздова Т.В.

ст. преподаватель кафедры ИЯГЕНО Дорохова Н.И.

Рецензент: доцент кафедры ИЯГЕНО Акифьева Н.С.

 

Рассмотрено и утверждено на заседании кафедры ИЯГЕНО, протокол № 13 от 30.06.06.

UNIT I