Max Weber's Sociological Theories

Weber 1) Max Weber’s sociological theories revolved around social action. The two most prominent forms of social action being rational action and non-rational action. Both terms seem self explanatory. Rational action is seen in behaviors that are motivated by a analytical or reasoned evaluation of an individual, group, or organizations goals and how they pursue them. Non-rational action is when behavior is motivated by either emotions or traditions instead of thoughtful reasoning. The two articles, “So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic” and “In Choosing a Sperm Donor, a Roll of the Genetic Dice” there are prime examples of both rational and non-rational action. In the first article, “So Eager for Grandchildren,

The concept of his that I would like to focus on is alienated labor. Alienated labor is the result of the economic and social organization of capitalist production. Marx specifies four different types of alienation. These include: alienation from products produced, alienation within the production process, alienation of workers from their species being, and alienation of individuals from one another. The main two forms of alienation found in this article are alienation of workers from their species being and alienation of individuals from one another. Alienation of workers from their species being is when wage workers are reduced to their use-value and then become separated from the creativity and higher consciousness that differentiate the human wage workers from animals. Alienation of individuals from one another sounds more self explanatory. This form of alienation is seen when the competitive production process and workplace demands alienate individuals from one another. When this occurs, instead of sticking together, the wage workers turn on each

Early on in the article, it is said that in order for workers to keep their jobs, they are encouraged to turn on each other. This is a prime example of how competitive the production process is that individual employees feel the need to turn on each other in order to keep their jobs. Later on in the article, another explicit example of this form of alienation emerged. Johnston writes, “A marketer who worked in the retail division for six years said: “You learn how to diplomatically throw people under the bus… it’s a horrible feeling””. This quote shows perfectly that the work environment at Amazon has encouraged people to alienate one another. And by the experienced marketer explaining how horrible of a feeling it is to do, shows that this alienation isn’t natural and that it is a result of the competitive production