Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was a German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist who is regarded as one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more broadly. His ideas significantly influenced social theory and research.

Born in Erfurt in 1864, Weber initially studied law and history in Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg. He earned his doctorate in law in 1889 and habilitation in 1891, thereafter teaching in Berlin, Freiburg, and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Schnitger two years later. In 1897, after a personal crisis following his father's death, Weber stopped teaching and traveled until the early 1900s, a period during which he wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

During the First World War, Weber supported Germany's war efforts but later advocated for democratization. He delivered influential lectures titled Science as a Vocation and Politics as a Vocation. After the war, Weber played a role in the formation of the German Democratic Party and participated in drafting the Weimar Constitution. Eventually, disillusioned by politics, he returned to teaching in Vienna and Munich.

Weber passed away in 1920 at the age of 56, possibly due to the post-war Spanish flu pandemic. His unfinished work, Economy and Society, remains a significant contribution to the field.

Intellectually, Weber focused on understanding the processes of rationalization, secularization, and disenchantment in the context of capitalism and modernity. He argued that the Protestant work ethic contributed to the rise of capitalism, as elaborated in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber's exploration of different religions in The Economic Ethics of the World Religions further enhanced his recognition.

In terms of political theory, Weber's ideas about the state's monopoly on violence and his categorization of social authority into charismatic, traditional, and rational-legal forms are fundamental to modern political science. His advocacy for methodological antipositivism emphasized studying social action through interpretive methods rather than purely empirical ones.

Weber's legacy persisted despite initial setbacks during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. In the post-war era, scholarly engagement with his works grew, notably through efforts by Talcott Parsons among others. Over the twentieth century, Weber has been celebrated as a foundational sociologist alongside Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim.