ABSTRACT
This chapter reconstructs the rationalization of social action model for the rulership domain. Here, Weber explores the ways in which each of the three “types of rulership” (charismatic, traditional, and rational-legal), widespread across civilizations, implies a rationalization of social action – or not. As heuristic constructs, these models involve distinct levels of rationalization (charismatic and traditional rulership less, and rational-legal more). As remains the case with Weber’s further rationalization of action models, this “rulership matrix” assists investigators: it provides guidance and orientation.
Weber queries repeatedly: what level of the rationalization of social action was reached in a particular civilization for persons oriented to the rulership domain? Did the levels of rationalization in a particular civilization approximate the feudal and patrimonial types of traditional rulership, for example, or did they remain at the level of patriarchal rulership?
