Sadri, A. (1992) Max Weber's Sociology of Intellectuals, New York: Oxford University Press.

• Max Weber made it clear that sociology, as he defined it, is concerned with the interpretive understanding of social action. He spoke of action, of course, when the acting individual attaches meaning to his "behavior." 6
• Meaningful action can be non-social; it becomes social only when it is oriented toward the meaningful action of others. 9
• "The subjective meaning need not necessarily be the same for all the parties who are mutually oriented in a given social relationship; there need not in this sense be "reciprocity." "Friendship," "love," "loyalty," "fidelity to contracts," "patriotism," on the one side, may well be faced with an entirely different attitude on the other. In such cases the parties associate different meanings with their actions, and the social relationship is insofar objectively "assymetrical" from the points of view of the two parties." (Weber, Economy I, p. 27) 10

Roth, G., and Wittich, C. (eds.) (1978) Economy and Society, vol. 1, Berkely: University of California Press.

• Social relationship" is not based on intersubjective meetings of the minds but (especially for the observer) on the "probability there will be meaningful course of action." 10
• "Survival" can be the result of quite concrete intrinsic historical circumstances or "accidents." 27
• Survival can also be an unintended consequence of actions of any of the parties involved in the "competitive struggle." (Weber, Ec. I, 38-40) 27
• the survival of a group or social form can be adequately or accidentally caused by a number of intrinsic qualities, extrinsic circumstances, intended as well as unintended consequences of human action. To conveniently simplify this complex process by stating that only the fittest will survive is to reduce the science of history to fallacy: only the fittest survive, anything that survived must have been fit! 27
• "Strictly and exclusively empirical analysis can provide a solution only where there is a question of a means adequate to the realization of an absolutely unambiguous given end." 27 (Weber, meaning, p.26) The Meaning of Discipline, In From Max Weber, edited by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, New York, Oxford University Press, 1958
• Weber perceived the world as an utterly unrationalizable conglomerate of contradictions among, as well as within, the spheres of life. 29
• By drawing attention to the problems they attempt to solve, such overlyrationalized images of the world are likely to rob people of the only protective shield they wear against the disturbing influence of the contradictions of their world: their ignorance of them. The rule of thumb here is: the more rationally consistent a theoretical image of the world, the more useless it becomes. 29 (economy 526, social 275)
• On the sociological plane, Weber deemed conflict to be both ineradicable and ubiquitous. 30
• "Conflict cannot be excluded from social life. One can change its means, its object, even its fundamental direction and its bearers, but it cannot be eliminated..."peace" is nothing more than the change in the form of the conflict or in the antagonists or in the objective of the conflict, or finally in the chances of selection." (Weber, meaning, p 26-27) 30
• Weber assumed that all types of mass religiosity rest on similar forms of religious experience. 45
• But he [Weber] admitted first, that the prophetic religions have often formed a "protectorate of the weak" benefiting the socially downtrodden groups and strata. (economy 582) Second he announced that although the prophets almost never directly descended from or represented the depressed classes, "in the great majority of cases, a prophetically announced religion of redemption has had its permanent locus among the less favored social strata" (social 274) Finally he pointed out that the practical ramifications of certain religious doctrines, such as the Buddhists indifference to caste ritual, has benefited the lower echelons of society. (India 246-256) 49
• The conflict occurs not merely...between "class interests" but between general views of life and the universe as well. This latter point, however, does not lessen the truth that the particular ultimate value judgments which the individual espouses is divided among other factors and certainly to a quite significant degree of affinity between it and class interest. (Objectivity 56) 89
• Prominently, the "We" of history for Weber is the politically active intellectual who enters politics both with commitment to a cause and with an awareness of the necessity of compromise in order to, among other things, save the world from becoming a prison of individuality and the graveyard of freedom. 97
• Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. Certainly all historical experience confirms the truth--that man would have no have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. But to do that a man must be a leader, and not only a leader but a hero as well, in a very sober sense of the word. And even those who are neither leaders nor heroes must arm themselves with that steadfastness of heart which can brave even the crumbling of all hopes. This is necessary right now, or else men will not be able to attain even that which is possible today. Only he has the calling for politics who is sure that he shall not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer. Only he who is in the face of all this can say "In spite of all!" has the calling for politics (politics 128) 103 "politics as a vocation", In from max Weber, above.
• Subjective understanding is the specific characteristic of sociological knowledge. 128