Ashlie Labarriere
Professor Darren Barany
Sociology 100
14 March 2015
Max Weber was a German Sociologist and Political Economist. Weber believed that
human beings act on their own understanding of a situation. For example when you walk
in someone else's shoes it allows you to see from their point of view and change your
reaction to a situation from then onward. He also introduce the concept of rationalization,
which is the mind set that emphasize knowledge, reason, and planning rather than
superstition and luck. Weber main theory is symbolic interactionism, which is comprised
into three main concept. As humans we learn the meaning of symbols and base our
behavior on that meaning, and lastly use that meaning to imagine how others will react to
our behavior.
According to symbolic interaction perspective, relationship are based upon symbolic
interaction. Communication is a shared system of symbolic interaction. Like all human
relationships, marriage is the interaction that takes place between two people. Individuals
that are known to have a "strong" marriage are usually in a relationship with a person
whom share similar interpretation of symbols. In other words, spouses in a stable
marriage understand the world in a compatible way. When you asked a divorced spouses
what happened to the relationship between them, majority of the time their answer will be
miscommunication. Max Weber and other sociologist believe that miscommunication is a
common result of symbolic interaction. Its very common for us as human beings to
attach our own personal and cultural meaning to symbols and social phenomena,
therefore causing different expectations and interpretation. For example a person who
was raised in a religious household views marriage as a sacred institution, Someone
raised in a secular household views marriage as a cultural tradition. The symbol of ...