Max Weber is an important figure in the history of modern social thought, and his work has become accepted as seminal in a number of areas of modern inquiry. His analyses of the development of political and social life point to a number of forces in human interaction which have been much studied since his time. There are four factors involved in the great fame that has attached to Weber's name. The first of these is his discussion of charismatic leadership, an idea Weber took from theology, as to have charisma is to have divine grace, the grace of God. The second is his examination of the Protestant ethic, an idea which operates metaphysically in much modern thought. The third is the sheer bulk and density of his writings. Finally, and most important, is the fact that Weber was a founding father of the discipline of sociology. He conducted studies in the sociology of religion and analyzed the influence of Lutheranism and Calvinism on the development of capitalism. He offered a political sociology that has become the foundation for much modern analysis of politics, social stratification, and bureaucracy. He offered a methodology of the social sciences that was influential in the development of systems of inquiry into the nature of social interaction. One of the concepts elucidated by Weber held that there exists an elective affinity between groups' material conditions, their interests, and the meaning systems to which they adhere. Over time, there may be a change in the meaning system of a group as the other elements change. This concept will be considered in terms of two groups--the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the women's movement as represented by the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Weber applied his own concept to the Protestant movement in America and illustrated his thesis based on an analysis of religious doctrine and the joining of that doctrine with social movements at specific ti...