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The modernization theory of the 1950s and 1960s drew on classical evolutionary theory and a Parsonian reading of Weber's ideas about a transition from traditional to modern society. Parsons had translated Weber's works into English in the 1930s and provided his own interpretation. [11] [12] [13]
Jürgen Habermas has subsequently striven to find a positive foundation for modernity in the face of disenchantment, even while appreciating Weber's recognition of how far secular society was created from, and is still "haunted by the ghosts of dead religious beliefs." [5]
Weber also formulated a three-component theory of stratification that contained the conceptually distinct elements of social class, social status, and political party. [256] This distinction was most clearly described in his essay "The Distribution of Power Within the Gemeinschaft : Classes, Stände , Parties", which was first published in his ...
His analysis of bureaucracy thus noted that modern state institutions are based on a form of rational-legal authority. Weber's thought regarding the rationalizing tendencies of modern Western society (sometimes described as the "Weber Thesis") would come to facilitate critical theory, particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas.
The noted French historian Fernand Braudel, considered one of the greatest of the modern historians, vigorously criticized Weber's theory, noting its lack of foundation and veracity, stating: All historians have opposed this tenuous theory, although they have not managed to be rid of it once and for all.
For Zygmunt Bauman, rationalization as a manifestation of modernity may be closely associated with the events of the Holocaust. In Modernity and Ambivalence, Bauman attempted to give an account of the different approaches modern society adopts toward the stranger. He argued that, on the one hand, in a consumer-oriented economy the strange and ...
Weber believes that this influenced modern society [8] and how we operate today, especially politically. [ 9 ] Bureaucratic formalism is often connected to Weber's metaphor of the iron cage because the bureaucracy is the greatest expression of rationality.
One common conception of modernity is the condition of Western history since the mid-15th century, or roughly the European development of movable type [68] and the printing press. [69] In this context the modern society is said to develop over many periods and to be influenced by important events that represent breaks in the continuity. [70 ...