Max Weber: a Short Biography
Max Weber: A Short Biography
Introduction
Being a man with great aspirations, Max Weber’s life was filled with complexities and complications. Therefore, it is worthy of one’s time to explore the reasons of his success, a revolutionary thinker of the 19th century whose theories still remained as the subjects of interest among academics of the new millennium. In this paper, we shall explore on his life, followed by what influenced and motivated Weber to achieve the milestone of his life: scientific management theories. Lastly, we shall critique on the relevance of his theories in modern management.
Biography
Born in Erfurt, Thuringia, on 21st April 1864, Max Weber was the eldest son of Max Weber Senior and Hellen Fallenstein Weber. Suffering from meningitis at the age of four, Max Weber adopted reading as his past time which developed his academic strength at a young age (Secher 1980).
Max Weber studied at the University of Heidelberg in the year 1882, specializing in the subject of Law. However, his education was disrupted while volunteering for military training as an Officer. In 1884, he resumed his education and graduated in 1890 (Secher 1980). He took up an offer at Freiburg University as an Economic Professor in 1894, a year after his marriage with Marianne Schniger, the grand niece of Max Weber, Senior. Ironically, Weber was haunted by a long term psychiatric breakdown and withdrew from work during the peak of his career as in 1897(Gerth & Mill 1982).
Although psychologically disturbed, Weber inherited a vast amount of wealth from his deceased father (Secher 1980). The monetary gains enabled Weber to recuperate from his conditions along with the time and space to develop one of his academic masterpiece, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” in 1904, which contested on the relevance of capitalism in the absence of spiritual belief (Gerth & Mill 1982).
Max Weber died of pneumonia in Munich, on 14 June, 1904. However, he kept
Introduction
Being a man with great aspirations, Max Weber’s life was filled with complexities and complications. Therefore, it is worthy of one’s time to explore the reasons of his success, a revolutionary thinker of the 19th century whose theories still remained as the subjects of interest among academics of the new millennium. In this paper, we shall explore on his life, followed by what influenced and motivated Weber to achieve the milestone of his life: scientific management theories. Lastly, we shall critique on the relevance of his theories in modern management.
Biography
Born in Erfurt, Thuringia, on 21st April 1864, Max Weber was the eldest son of Max Weber Senior and Hellen Fallenstein Weber. Suffering from meningitis at the age of four, Max Weber adopted reading as his past time which developed his academic strength at a young age (Secher 1980).
Max Weber studied at the University of Heidelberg in the year 1882, specializing in the subject of Law. However, his education was disrupted while volunteering for military training as an Officer. In 1884, he resumed his education and graduated in 1890 (Secher 1980). He took up an offer at Freiburg University as an Economic Professor in 1894, a year after his marriage with Marianne Schniger, the grand niece of Max Weber, Senior. Ironically, Weber was haunted by a long term psychiatric breakdown and withdrew from work during the peak of his career as in 1897(Gerth & Mill 1982).
Although psychologically disturbed, Weber inherited a vast amount of wealth from his deceased father (Secher 1980). The monetary gains enabled Weber to recuperate from his conditions along with the time and space to develop one of his academic masterpiece, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” in 1904, which contested on the relevance of capitalism in the absence of spiritual belief (Gerth & Mill 1982).
Max Weber died of pneumonia in Munich, on 14 June, 1904. However, he kept