What Is Max Weber's Rationalization Theory

Max Weber Essay

Andrea Castro

Soc 351 Classical Theory

Max Weber was the first child of a very large family to come. He was the eighth child that was born, and he was also the oldest. Not only was he the oldest of eight, but he was one of the six kids in the family that lived to transcend into adulthood. He was lucky too, because he contracted meningitis at the very young age of only four. His survival of the disease was amazing given he was born in 1864. While he fought the disease he still had to live with symptoms even long after the disease rid his body. In the year of 1889, Weber obtained a PhD and later accepted a job at the University of Berlin where he lectured (Appelrouth, Edles 2012: 126)

Weber’s rationalization theory

One example is the traditional holiday Christmas, that is celebrated here in the United States. When it comes to Christmas in our household, it is all automatic. After Thanksgiving, we unpack our decorations and wipe away the thin layers of dust. My husband always assembles the faux tree, and then we all dig in the giant box of ornaments to embellish the tree. After the tree is all set up, we then work on the classic red and green lights that light up our house in the spirit of Christmas. When decorating is complete we begin slowly buying gifts, wrapping them, and then setting them under the tree until the big day comes. This entire holiday is an automatic process. We have been doing it so long here in America that for those who celebrate this holiday, it is like second nature when it comes to that time of

Our family has been saving up for a Disney World trip when our daughter gets old enough to really enjoy it. To make this happen we have committed to cooking at home instead of dining out like we usually do once per week. We set the money aside that would have been spent on dinner and we put it in our savings account. We also have decided to cut our shower time down by a few minutes to save money on our water bill. One other sacrifice we’re now accustomed to is saying goodbye to cable television. Our monthly bill for cable and internet (bundled) was over one hundred dollars per month. We have dropped television and have saved around fifty dollars per month in doing so. Overall this has put an average of $100.00 per month that we are contributing to our Disney World savings