Examples Of Disenchantment In Moneyball

Max Weber was a German sociologist, theorist, and a historian who wrote the book “Science as a Vocation”. In his book, he repeatedly mentions the term disenchantment, what does Max Weber mean when he says disenchantment? According to Weber, disenchantment has to do with the idea of a more modernized society where people rely more on science rather than beliefs. The terminology of disenchantment is seen quite often in the film Moneyball. The idea of disenchantment is portrayed by general manager of the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane, desperately trying to save his team with the help of a new assistant manager, Peter Brand. Max Weber’s theory, and Billy Beane’s mindset are very alike, which can be seen in many parts of the film.
In the article “Science

General manager Billy Beane introduces Peter Brand, his new assistant manager to the rest of the team’s staff. The team needs new players since many of their key players left. Everyone but Beane and Peter want to replace them, but Billy Beane wants to recreate them. Using the help of Peter, they add up the on base percentage for all the lost key players, and divide it by 3. Then, they proceed to list 3 players that have that base percentage and they want to draft them. The rest of the staff is shaken, but that’s what Billy decides to do, draft them based off a number and ignore all other factors. A quote from the scene that will help demonstrate Max Weber’s notation of disenchantment is, “Add that up and you get…10.92 divided by 3, 3.64. That is what we are looking for. 3 ball players whose average on base percentage is 3.64”. The quote once again, shows the reader how much Billy Beane is only focusing on a number, a statistic. Billy Beane does not care about how old a player is, who they are dating, or any other factor that is not baseball related, he only cares about one statistic, their on base percentage. The quote clearly shows Max Weber’s definition of disenchantment. In the scene, Billy and Peter are using science to obtain the best players for the team, the ones that will benefit them the most by only looking at a single statistic, which is exactly Max Weber’s idea of