I thought that the bureaucratization and rationalization of modern society that Weber talked about was very interesting. He talked a lot about what he thought society was like in his eyes. He brought up an interesting concept of the ideal types. Weber says "In its conceptual purity this mental construct....cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality." This is a really deep quote from Weber that is hard to grasp. In his talks about the ideal types he gives clear example such as race and democracy. He also talks about power and authority individually. Weber said that power is the likelihood that demands are obeyed. Authority is legitimate domination. Usually when you think of power and authority you think that they are one in the same but Weber points out that they are not. There are three main forms of power and authority. The first is rational, meaning the law. The second is traditional which is like family or marriage. The third is charismatic which is like Hitler, Bill Clinton or Ghandi. All three of these forms fall under a different method of power and authority.
Next Weber talked about bureaucracy and rationalization. Some example of
bureaucracy are work and school. Rationalization is now where Weber's
idea of the "Iron Cage" comes in. He said it is like a juggernaut where
it just gets bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger, harder to get rid
of. This is an interesting concept that I think is one of Weber's most
well know ideas.
Here is a great video talking about the idea of Weber's "Iron Cage".
I was very interested in Gidden's thoughts on displacement. Displacement is something that I feel like a lot of people face, especially in today's society. I think it is easy for someone to feel left out or isolated from certain groups of people or even society as a whole. I know I have experienced some sort of isolation from different groups of people at times. For example when you hangout with your friend's friends maybe they don't act like you or have the same values as you. This may also affect how your friend acts around you then too, making you feel even more isolated form the group. This is just a lighter example than that of being isolated from society. However, I still think it fits with displacement.
Another example of displacement from my own experience is feeling somewhat isolated when I first came to UWSP. I came from a very small private Lutheran grade school and high school where I knew everyone and we all share the same beliefs. However, when I got here I quickly realized this was not the case at UWSP. It was just a weird change at first and made me feel somewhat isolated. That has all changed now which is great.
Giddens really brought up an interesting topic, displacement, because everyone can relate to it in some way. This is a great video explaining why we feel displaced and isolated.
