SumBlog4

Max Weber made important contributions to our study of sociology - namely his thoughts on bureaucratization and rationalization. Also his concept that ideal types to do not actually exist was an important one. A subset of the rationalization concept includes Weber's three forms of authority: rational, traditional, and charismatic. Rational includes written documents and law, traditional includes gender roles, marriage (things we do simply because we've always done them) and finally charismatic authority describes those groups or people who are charismatic and good speakers/leaders.

Weber sees rational authority  replacing the traditional type of authority. I tend to agree with this, at least looking at the United States. Some people in fact, seem to be worried about to much control by law and documents and refer to the country as a "police state." In comparison, a country that is considered at the top, if not the top of the list of progressive and free states is Sweden. For details on Sweden and the rest of the world visit: http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/.

Although Sweden does have written laws and police who protect the people, it is much less controlling and allows people more freedoms and access to care and opportunities which are not available in many other countries. It's not to say that Sweden is really better than other countries, but it's definitely run differently. Who knows what it will look like in 100 years? But for now, it has low employment, high standard of living and some of the happiest people on the planet. Below is a positive and critical view of Sweden and comparing it to the United States.

The video also discusses something paramount to Weber's thoughts: bureaucracy. Even though there is bureaucracy and paperwork and institutions in Sweden, people seem to trust it more than Americans trust theirs. It makes me wonder how closely trust and a country's bureaucratic system is related!