Weber's Life Chances

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Hello. The solution below discusses the notion of Life Chances as theorized by Max Weber. It looks beyond social class and includes other elements as implicated by Weber upon his definition of the concept. Should you need to expand on the ideas provided, please feel free to use the listed references. The solution follows the APA format. Your solution is also attached as a word file for easy printing. Thank you for using Brainmass. Good luck with your studies!

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OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Defining Max Weber's Life Chances

German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber was a great observer and analyst of the social world. He looked, for example, on the manner by which social-group membership and culture as well as religion shape identity (i.e. His Study of the Protestant Ethic). His interest in what makes society work, what shapes identity and culture has led him to observe what he calls as the phenomenon of 'Life Chances'. Essentially in determining 'life chances' he refers to the available resources and opportunities an individual has in his/her own life situations taking into account personality, identity, social class, culture, gender, age and political association. There are varied other random elements of course as each individual and their social realities are unique but this is why he refers to it as 'life chances' because it is in the uniqueness of these combinations of elements which probabilistically determine how one person will do in life. For example, a child born in the first world (i.e. Babies born to the German Middle class) will probably have more chances of surviving the first few weeks and then growing up to receive good nutrition and education than say, a child born in a really poor nation (i.e. babies born to poor parents in Zaire). At infancy, life chances means 'chance at life' and as the person gains knowledge and social experience as well as skills and social importance, it comes to symbolise or refer to the possibilities of success, failure, abundance, prosperity, development or the opposite thereof. Life chances at the varied elements determine one's access to health care, education, social membership, citizenship, subsequent employment, access to culture, access to welfare, access to healthcare, etc. determining one's future and quality of life. How good life could possibly get for an individual can be said to be pre-determined by his/her life chances.

Life Chances, Social Class, Mobility & the Third World

When we talk about social class, we talk about economic capability and social standing. Economically, we assign the following - ...