Best remembered for an important philosophical text titled The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, this late 19th and early 20th-century thinker made important contributions to modern economic, religious, and political sociological theory.

Before Fame

After studying law and history at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Berlin, he began teaching at the latter institution and simultaneously publishing sociological works.

Trivia

Shortly after the conclusion of World War I, he became a founder of the German Democratic Party and attended the Paris Peace Conference, where he advised the authors of the Weimar Constitution.

Family Life

He and his six younger siblings were born in Erfurt, Prussia (modern-day Germany) to Helene Fallenstein and civil servant Max Weber, Sr. In 1893, he married writer and activist Marianne Schnitger.

Associated With

He was influenced by the work of fellow German philosopher Karl Marx.