The mission of life: Max Weber on rationalization, ideal type and power

The article briefly reviews the interconnection between the biography and intellectual trajectory of Karl Emil Maximilian Weber, with the aim to analyze themes considered central in Weber’s work: the rationalization process, the ideal type, and the relationship between bureaucracy and charismatic power. In this paper these three key concepts will be explored through analysis of both their conceptualization by Weber and some theoretical moments of their reception that proved controversial, in certain aspects, in subsequent sociological contributions. Weber was considered one of the greatest thinkers and founding fathers of sociology, and echoes of his work can still be perceived today in contemporary sociological theory, even if with sometimes discordant interpretations, a sign, also, of the difficulty of interpreting the vast and complex field of Weberian thought. His interesting life story also reflects the complexity and vastness of his work: his extensive scientific production ranges from the sociology of religions to the method of social sciences, passing through agricultural, economic and social history, even questioning himself on the problems of worker psychology. His ample construction of concepts, constructs, conjectures, themes, axioms and theories is, for the social sciences, a priceless heritage from which to draw in the most varied ways, as ideal-types of disciplines.