Economy and Society

"Social action, like all action, may be oriented in four ways. It may be:"

"The continual utilization and procurement of goods, whether through production or exchange, by an economic unit for purposes of its own consumption or to procure other goods for consumption. will be called "budgetary management" (Haushalt)."

"The term "social relationship” will be used to denote the behavior of a plurality of actors insofar as, in its meaningful content, the action of each takes account of that of the others and is oriented in these terms. The social relationship thus consists entirely and exclusively in the existence of a probability that there will be a meaningful course of social action – irrespective, for the time being, of the basis of this probability."

"Characteristics of Modern Bureaucracy"

"Soweit es sich hier um „Paria"-Intellektualismus handelt, ... beruht dessen Intensität darauf, daß die außerhalb oder am unteren Ende der sozialen Hierarchie stehenden Schichten gewissermaßen auf dem archimedischen Punkt gegenüber den gesellschaftlichen Konventionen, sowohl was die äußere Ordnung wie was die üblichen Meinungen angeht, stehen. Sie sind daher einer durch jene Konvention nicht gebundenen originären Stellungnahme zum „Sinn" des Kosmos und eines starken, durch materielle Rücksicht nicht gehemmten, ethischen und religiösen Pathos fähig."

"Bureaucratization offers above all the optimum possibility for carrying through the principle of specializing administrative functions according to purely objective considerations. Individual performances are allocated to functionaries who have specialized training and who, by constant practice increase their expertise. "Objective" discharge of business primarily means a discharge of business according to calculable rules and "without regard for persons."