Weber, Alfred

Born July 30, 1868, in Erfurt; died May 2, 1958, in Heidelberg. German bourgeois economist and sociologist. Brother of Max Weber. Professor of economics and sociology at the University of Prague (1904-07) and at the University of Heidelberg (1907-58, with interruptions during the fascist years).

In 1909, Weber proposed a theory of the geographical distribution of industry (Standort), according to which industrial enterprises attempt to occupy the most advantageous location in relation to the sources of raw material and to the labor market, thus ensuring minimum costs on the part of the entrepreneurs. This theory has not lost its influence in bourgeois political economy; however, it has been criticized for ignoring the presence of different economic regions, interrelations between branches of an industry, and the struggle of monopolies. Weber formulated his Sociology of History and Culture under the influence of Max Weber and W. Dilthey. History, according to Weber, can be subdivided into social processes (the formation of social institutions and structures), civilizing processes (the progressive development of technology and natural science leading to the unification of civilization), and cultural processes (creative processes, including art, religion, and philosophy). The three are related but follow different laws. The specific nature of historical and social changes in specific periods was connected by Weber with the irrational character of the cultural process, which is created by an intellectual elite. Thus, history, according to Weber, is directed by the play of the forces of the human spirit, which meant the negation of objective laws in history and of the possibility of knowing these laws.