Anneke van Baalen, HIDDEN MASCULINITY, Max Weber's historical sociology of bureaucracy. 1994
Chapter 8 Connections between formal rationality and patriarchal-patrimonial domination
over and through men
141
attempts at industrialization, however, did not succeed, since 'the arbitrariness of patrimonial
rulership' - a political reason - made the continuation of the monopolies risky.
15
In distinguishing between economic and political factors, Weber emphasizes the interest of
capitalist entrepreneurs in the 'calculability' of the actions of the state; although according to
him - as will be seen in the next chapter - the patrimonial bureaucracy was rationalized to a
considerable degree, its rationalization seems not to have been sufficient to check
patriarchal arbitrariness.
16
For this reason the patrimonial imitations of urban economic
policy did not result in modern industrial capitalism.
17
The economic activities of the
patriarchal-patrimonial rulers therefore did not lead to rationalization of the economy - this
was eventually effected through the efforts of a new class of entrepreneurs
18
- but only to a
rationalization of the administrative apparatus and of the financial techniques of the
European states; this rationalization had its origin in the attempts of the rulers to acquire
sources of income that were independent of the approval of the Estates.
19
The rising industrial bourgeoisie, which needed to be able to calculate the actions of the
state, nevertheless fought the patrimonial rulers in the Estate parliaments. Weber explains
its contradictory behavior only by emphasizing the arbitrariness of patriarchal patrimonialism,
which seemed to be stronger than its efforts at formal rationalization.
Weber's analysis of the expansion of patrimonialism corresponds with his personal opinions:
in his view it is the bureaucracy that checked German imperialist expansion. He is convinced
that the growth of capitalism in Germany was checked by the patrimonial bureaucracy,
whereas in England it could develop freely.
20
15
'The economic roots of this failure were the disregard of the economics of location, in England and elsewhere
frequently the qualitative inferiority of protected products and the hindrance of the capital flow in directions
indicated by the market conditions; the legal insecurity owing to the always doubtful duration of monopolies in
view of possible new privileges was the p o l i t i c a l reason for this failure - hence the retarding factor was again
the arbitrariness of patrimonial rulership.' ES p. 1099, WG p. 645/6.
16
See also ES p. 1099, WG p. 646: 'The patrimonial state offers the whole realm of the ruler's discretion as a
hunting ground for accumulating wealth.'
17
'The major forerunners of the modern, specifically Western form of capitalism are to be found in the organized
urban communes of Europe with their particular type of relatively rational administration. Its primary development
took place from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries within the framework of the class structure and political
organization (ständischen politischen Verbände) of Holland and England, which were distinguished by the
unusual power of the bourgeois strata and the preponderance of their economic interests. The fiscal and
utilitarian *secondary imitations, which were introduced into the purely patrimonial or largely feudal (feudal-
ständisch) states of the Continent, have in common with the Stuart system of monopolistic industry the fact that
they do no stand in the main line of continuity with the later autonomous capitalistic development.' ES p. 240/1,
WG p. 139 (the word 'secondary' is omitted in the translation, though it could play a role in the discussion on the
directness of city influence). Industrial capitalism developed through the establishment of large home industries in
the country by new entrepreneurs: 'The new capitalist undertakings settled in the new locations suitable for them,
and for help in the defense of his interests - insofar as he required any at all - the entrepreneur now appealed to
powers other than a local burgher association.' ES p. 1330, WG p. 793.
18
whose 'entrepreneurial spirit' was 'furthered or awakened, at least for the moment' by the patrimonial industrial
activities, ES p. 1098, WG p. 645.
19
ES p. 1098, WG p. 645.
20
Weber nevertheless presents some other factors that might have prevented the development of industrial
capitalism. He pays the most attention to the influence of the feudal landlords, whose status aversion to the
earning of money did not prevent them from using their patrimonial powers to create commercial and craft
enterprises and even factories with serf labor ('Fronfabriken'). But because of their orientation to consumption
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