ur to a more individual level it will reveal more of what we are trying to understand. Rational behavior, and reactive instinct, Webber believes can both be clarified with further studies in the social context. By ascertaining a clear comprehension of action-elements within their intended context by the actor, he believes these actions and subsequent meanings can be rationally evident.Webber also points out that there are many meanings or ends that cannot be fully understood, even if we can grasp them intellectually. This is because everyone has there own sets of morals and values, thus making it difficult to put yourself in someone else’s place in order to understand them. Which amplifies the difficulty in trying to understand why someone would choose to follow fascism. Examples could be people motivated to take different courses of action due to different religious perspectives, or those changed to become more fanatical due to their individual experiences. Like the feelings being experienced by the German population in post war Germany. “Collective actions-including economic actions-that are based on ideal and material considerations of status run counter to all collective actions that are based entirely on the cash-nexus.” (Bendix R, 1959)In the above statement we can see how Bendix believed these social actions affected Webbers understanding of society.Actions that we ourselves could find irrational when trying to understand another’s motives could also be associated with emotions. Love, hate, jealousy e.t.c, all effect many individuals in what may first appear similar, but are fundamentally different ways. So my statement earlier concerning why enlightened modern thinkers find it so shocking that the Germans could have acted in such a way, seems a little nave. To try and understand the deviance from what we might understand as a rational course of action. We could try to believe it is possible to look at the...
