Beruf, rationality and emotion in Max Weber's sociology

The concept of Beruf variously translated as 'calling' or 'vocation', refer s to the practice of systematic self-control in pursuing constant goals or purposes, which Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905). found in both Calvinist religious practice and capitalistic entrep reneurship and labour. But the term is not confined to these applications; it is also central in Science ar a Vocation (1917) and Politics as a Vocati on (1919). The general significance of the idea of Beruf is that it account s for the mechanisms required to realize in action the quality of rationali ty, another of Weber's characteristic terms. The connection between rationa l activity and calling is constant in Weber's discussion. In his early stat ement of the argument however, practices of Beruf achieve rationality throu gh the suppression of emotion. In his later discussion, Beruf is achieved t hrough and expresses passion and emotions.