His ideas continue to influence social theory and research. After earning his doctorate in law in and habilitation in , he taught in Berlin, Freiburg , and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Schnitger two years later. In , he had a breakdown after his father died following an argument. Weber ceased teaching and travelled until the early s. During the First World War , he initially supported Germany's war effort but became critical of it and supported democratisation.
He also gave the lectures " Science as a Vocation " and " Politics as a Vocation ". After the war, Weber co-founded the German Democratic Party , unsuccessfully ran for office, and advised the drafting of the Weimar Constitution.
Becoming frustrated with politics, he resumed teaching in Vienna and Munich. He died of pneumonia in at the age of 56, possibly as a result of the post-war Spanish flu pandemic. A book, Economy and Society , was left unfinished.
One of Weber's main intellectual concerns was in understanding the processes of rationalisation , secularisation , and disenchantment. He formulated a thesis arguing that such processes were associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity. Weber also argued that the Protestant work ethic influenced the creation of capitalism in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
In terms of government, Weber argued that states were defined by their monopoly on violence and categorised social authority into three distinct forms : charismatic , traditional , and rational-legal. He was also a key proponent of methodological antipositivism , arguing for the study of social action through interpretive rather than purely empiricist methods. Weber made a variety of other contributions to economic sociology , political sociology , and the sociology of religion.
