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What are ideal types? How useful are they in helping us to understand contemporary social structures?
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- Words:
- 2977
- Submitted:
- Fri Feb 20 2004
... What are ideal types? How useful are they in helping us to understand contemporary social structures? Burger (1976) points out that "the conception of the ideal type has been regarded by many as the crowning achievement of Weber's efforts in the field of methodology" (pg.154). In this essay I will attempt to lay the foundations of Webers beliefs and show how the relate to his use of the ideal type. Firstly I will negotiate Webers path through the two dominant sociological traditions, Positivism and Historicism and pick out common themes along the way. I will show why Webers middle way required such a novel device as the ideal type and I will highlight the methods Weber must first follow before the ideal type is constructed. Drawing on the work of Parking I will highlight some fundamental flaws in Webers approach after which I will critically examine the use of ideal types
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