He is one of the founders of modern sociology in Germany. Weber, who wrote on a wide range of topics—including world religions, structures of power and authority, and bureaucracy—placed the concept of rationality at the center of all his work.
In his works, he sought to answer the question: “Which social factors specific to Western civilization have led to rationalization?” He likened the modern world—devoid of spirit, monotonous, and devoid of mystery and excitement—to a steel cage. In his work *The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism*, in which he examined the emergence of capitalism in the West, he demonstrated that there could be a two-way relationship between materialism and spiritualism. Weber, who was also interested in politics, died of pneumonia in 1920.