Iron cage

In sociology, the iron cage is a concept introduced by Max Weber to describe the increased rationalization inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. The "iron cage" thus traps individuals in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control. Weber also described the bureaucratization of social order as "the polar night of icy darkness".^[1]

The original German term is stahlhartes Gehäuse (steel-hard casing); this was translated into "iron cage", an expression made familiar to English-speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1930 translation of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.^[2] This choice has been questioned recently by scholars who prefer the more direct translation: "shell as hard as steel".^[2]^[3]

Weber (in Parsons' translation) wrote:

In Baxter's view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the 'saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment.' But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage.^[4]

^ Lassman, Peter, ed. (1994). Weber: Political Writings. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Translated by Speirs, Ronald. Cambridge University Press. p. xvi. ISBN 0-521-39719-7.
^ ^a ^b Baehr, Peter (2001). "The "Iron Cage" and the "Shell as Hard as Steel": Parsons, Weber, and the Stahlhartes Gehäuse Metaphor in the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". History and Theory. 40 (2): 153–169. doi:10.1111/0018-2656.00160.
^ Weber, Max (2002). Baehr, Peter R.; Wells, Gordon C. (eds.). The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings. Penguin Classics. p. xxiv. ISBN 0-14-043921-8.
^ Weber, Max (1905). "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".

[1] Lassman, Peter, ed. (1994). Weber: Political Writings. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Translated by Speirs, Ronald. Cambridge University Press. p. xvi. ISBN 0-521-39719-7.

[pb-2] Baehr, Peter (2001). "The "Iron Cage" and the "Shell as Hard as Steel": Parsons, Weber, and the Stahlhartes Gehäuse Metaphor in the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". History and Theory. 40 (2): 153–169. doi:10.1111/0018-2656.00160.

[3] Weber, Max (2002). Baehr, Peter R.; Wells, Gordon C. (eds.). The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings. Penguin Classics. p. xxiv. ISBN 0-14-043921-8.

[4] Weber, Max (1905). "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".

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