Oxford University Press, 1946. 516 pages.This book has been translated and edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills with an introduction to the work of the greatest German sociologist and a key figure in the development of present-day sociological thought.
In this book Weber argues that sociology is most clearly understood through interpretations of social stratifications and divisions. Weber defines sociology as "a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its cause and effect."
Weber's interpretation of social action can be used as a framework to further analyze prestige and power. His analysis of power structures illustrates how the political understanding of social actions becomes meaningful not only for defining the role of the individual, but more importantly, for the effect an individual's action has in engaging and re-defining the political community.
Weber's arguments draw on how power finds expression institutionally through state structures and the role social action has both on the individual and community in addressing power relations. Weber underscores that while various social actors relate to power structures differently, all power structures employ force to continue dependency as a means of control. This "dynamic of power" constructs a system of competition in which each political organization must to some degree let go of its isolationist and less dependent attitudes in order to gain more prestige and "further political expansion." Weber explains that political structures that alienate themselves run the risk of curbing their power gain.
