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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

‘Ideal Types’ of Max Weber are mental constructs; they do not correspond to the reality. Give your views.

  • UPSC 2020
  • Sociological Thinkers

The statement is half right. Max Weber himself called the ideal type a "mental construct" which, "in its conceptual purity", cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality ("'Objectivity' in Social Science and Social Policy", 1904). But he built it from reality and for reality. Lack of correspondence is its purpose, not its defect.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • Why ideal types are mental constructs
  • Why they are still anchored in reality
  • Critiques
  • My view

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