Malavika G NairAIR 45 · CSE 2024 · 194 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
Weber advocated his methodology of Verstehen which sought understanding of social phenomena at both the direct observational level and at the level of subjective understanding of meanings.
Drawbacks of Weberian Approach:
Body · points
Lack of consistency in his methods is a major drawback. He uses ideal types and verstehen inconsistently in his own studies.
Verstehen relies on establishing an empathetic liaison with the actor for understanding probable meanings. e.g. He uses in Calvinist literature in study of Protestant Ethics.
This cannot be reproduced nor empirically verified.
- Verstehen is not a consistent method as it is vague and creates different result each time.
(4) Verstehen does not have any concrete rules or guidelines and can reduce reliability and validity of social research.
(5) Weber's utilization of empirical data in Verstehen is limited.
(6) Macrosocial enquiry is dominated by historical method, comparative analysis etc. e.g. study of India, China in Protestant Ethics.
Close · a summary
Despite its various drawbacks, Verstehen is a unique approach which led to the development of symbolic interactionism (Blumer), Ethnomethodology (Schutz) and Phenomenology. It remains relevant in micro level social enquiry but Weber was not fully successful in evolving it for macro level applications.