Iron Cage - Max Webers Theory of Rationality

Iron Cage - Max Webers Theory of Rationality One of the theoretical concepts that Max Weber, founding sociologist, is most well known for is the iron cage. Weber first presented this theory in his important and widely taught work,  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, however, he  wrote in German, so never actually used the phrase himself. It was American sociologist Talcott Parsons who coined it, in his original translation of Webers book, published in 1930. In the original work, Weber referred to a  stahlhartes Gehuse, which literally translated means housing hard as steel. Parsons translation into iron cage, though, is largely accepted as an accurate rendering of the metaphor offered by Weber. Understanding Webers Iron Cage In  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber presented a carefully researched historical account of how a strong Protestant work ethic and belief in living frugally helped foster the development of the capitalist economic system in the Western world. Weber explained that as the force of Protestantism decreased in social life over time, the system of capitalism remained, as did the social structure and principles of bureaucracy that had evolved along with it. This bureaucratic social structure, and the values, beliefs, and worldviews that supported and sustained it, became central to shaping social life. It was this very phenomenon that Weber conceived of as an iron cage. The reference to this concept comes on page 181 of Parsons translation. It reads: The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into everyday life, and began to dominant worldly morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order. Simply put, Weber suggests that the technological and economic relationships that organized and grew out of capitalist production became themselves fundamental forces in society. Thus, if you are born into a society organized this way, with the division of labor and hierarchical social structure that comes with it, you cant help but live within this system. As such, ones life and worldview are shaped by it to such an extent that one probably cant even imagine what an alternative way of life would look like. So, those born into the cage live out its dictates, and in doing so, reproduce the cage in perpetuity. For this reason, Weber considered the iron cage a massive hindrance to freedom. Why Sociologists Embrace Webers Iron Cage This concept proved very useful to social theorists and researchers who followed Weber. Most notably, the  critical theorists associated with the Frankfurt School  in Germany, who were active during the middle of the twentieth century, elaborated on this concept. They witnessed further technological developments and their impact on capitalist production and culture  and saw that these only intensified the ability of the iron cage to shape and constrain our behavior and thought. Webers concept remains important to sociologists today because the iron cage of techno-rational thought, practices, relations, and capitalism   now a global system   shows no signs of disintegrating anytime soon. The influence of this iron cage leads to some very serious problems that social scientists and others are now working to solve. For example, how can we overcome the force of the iron cage to address the threats of climate change, produced by the very cage itself? And, how can we convince people that the system within the cage is  not  working in their best interest, evidenced by the shocking wealth inequality that divides many Western nations?