Soviet Communism and Weberian Sociology

Abstract

The first section of this article gives a short outline of Weber's view on socialism, communism and the Russian Revolution. It is argued that Soviet communism is neither traditional nor neotraditional, neither charismatic in the sense of the genuine, personal charisma of its leaders, nor rational in the sense of a maximum of formal rationality. It is suggested that another Weberian category, one which until now has received only limited attentionthe charisma of reason -overcomes several of the difficulties in which previous analyses have got entangled.

Substantive-rational authority: The missing fourth pure type in Weber’s typology of legitimate domination

“…Yet, a significant number of commentators agree that Weber’s typology is missing a non-formal rational authority. They have typically added a fourth type: “professional” (Parsons, 1947), “competent” (Wrong, 1988), “goal-rational” (Rigby, 1982), “value-rational” (Satow, 1975; Spencer, 1970), “ideological” (Turner, 2008; Willer, 1967), “performance” (Zhao, 2009) and “charisma of reason” (Breuer, 1992, 1996). 9 As is shown in Table 1, almost all of them point to the legitimating role of instrumental and value rationality in empirical cases not accounted for by Weber’s tripartite typology – most notably, communist leaders and professionals.…”

“…Yet, for six decades, there has also been wide discussion about whether or not Weber’s famous typology is as thorough as he claimed it to be (Breuer, 1992; Matheson, 1987; Nass, 1986; Parsons, 1947; Rigby, 1982; Satow, 1975; Schluchter, 1981, 1989; Spencer, 1970; Turner, 2008; Willer, 1967; Wrong, 1988; Zhao, 2009). The key problem has been that some empirical cases of authority, such as doctors and Soviet leaders, cannot be accounted for by combining Weber’s three pure types of authority.…”

“An Army of Civil Servants”:MaxWeber andÉmileDurkheim on Socialism

“…Perhaps Weber's rejection of socialism is linked to what he saw there (cf. Breuer )? These are issues which Durkheim, who died in November 1917, did not have to confront.…”

“…Weber also comments on the dominance of intellectuals in the Bolshevik party and their “idiotic behaviour” (Weber : 217), singling out Trotsky who “with the typical vanity of the Russian littéraeur” wanted to use Brest‐Litovsk as a means of producing German civil war, to which Weber sighs “one cannot make peace with people who are fighting for their faith” (Weber : 298–300). Secondly, Weber dismisses the USSR as a military dictatorship (Breuer ) which, like all military dictatorships, will eventually fall (Weber : 119).…”

Symbolic Charisma and the Creation of Nations: The Case of the Sámi

“…Researchers have also described charisma as a phenomenon that is contextually connected to specific formative periods in history caused by war, revolution, or profound social change. Out of this kind of symbolic interpretation of ‘second generation’ charisma, Soviet communism has been viewed as a kind of charismatic domination that has been transformed, by routine, into a kind of institutionalised charisma (Breuer 1998:145). In this sense, charisma is regarded as a symbolic feature more than merely a psychological quality of a person.…”