sonal rules, professionally trained officials, rational
procedures. Although orderly and fair, Weber
acknowledges the threat of bureaucracy to personal,
humane governance.
Weber provided an alternative to the materialistic
sociology of Karl MARXby seeing the interplay of cul-
ture, economics, politics, and religion, as opposed to
MARXISM’s emphasis on economic production. His
method of objective study also led to the development
of value-free social science.
Further Readings
Beetham, D. Max Weber and the Theory of Modern Politics,2nd
ed. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
Roth, G., and Schluchter, W. Max Weber’s Vision of History.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
welfare state
The Liberal or LEFTISTpolicy of providing extensive
social services (in public education, housing, health
care, poverty relief, etc.) by the central government. As
part of a mixed economy of CAPITALISMand SOCIALISM,a
welfare state uses the state to redistribute some of the
wealth generated by a market economy (through
taxes) to provide goods and services to the poor, the
elderly, the infirm, and the helpless. In Britain and the
United States, this social-welfare policy expanded in
the 1930s and 1940s (see NEW DEAL) under the influ-
ence of economist John Maynard KEYNES. Opposition
to the welfare state comes from CONSERVATIVEand LIBER-
TARIANthinkers and politicians (such as Robert NOZICK
and Ronald REAGAN). Since the 1980s, the term welfare
statehas been used negatively to describe wasteful and
fraudulent social-welfare programs that supposedly
indulge the poor and lazy in society.
Still, such programs are widely accepted in most
Western democracies and in Europe as SOCIAL DEMOC-
RACY.
Further Reading
Timms, N., ed. Social Welfare: Why and How?London: Rout-
ledge, 1980.
Whitefield, George (1715–1770) British min-
ister
An Anglican clergyman, Whitefield began the EVANGEL-
ICAL CHRISTIANpractice of itinerate teaching in large
outdoor settings that transformed American political
and religious culture prior to the American Revolution
in 1776.
Whitefield traveled to the British North American
colonies seven times between 1738 and 1770, holding
religious revival meetings during the GREAT AWAKENING
from Massachusetts to Georgia. Many times, he would
preach to audiences of thousands in the open country-
side. In Philadelphia, he spoke to a crowd of 20,000
people, including Benjamin FRANKLIN, who became a
close friend of Whitefield’s.
The political effects of Whitefield’s evangelism were
important in preparing the North American colonists
for the Revolution, independence from the British
Empire, and DEMOCRACY. His informal style outside the
formal church establishment and his RADICALProtes-
tant message on the “New Birth in Christ” had the
effect of encouraging INDIVIDUALISM, EQUALITY, and
FREEDOM—qualities that quickly transformed American
political and social culture. Giving an estimated 8,000
sermons to large audiences in America during the
1700s, Whitefield reached millions of ordinary citizens
and became arguably the most famous person in 18th-
century America. His FUNDAMENTALISTmessage unified
often diverse regions (New England, Middle Atlantic,
Southern), preparing them for unified action during
the American Revolutionary War. He is a classic exam-
ple of the integration of religion and politics, CHURCH
AND STATE, in the United States of America.
Educated at Pembroke College, Oxford University,
Whitefield was also famous in England and Scotland.
He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts.Further Readings
Dallimore, A. George Whitefield.Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of
Truth, 1980.
Henry, S. C. George Whitefield.New York: Abingdon Press,
1957.Will, George F. (1941– ) U.S. political writer
and philosopher
As the author of regular writings in popular American
periodicals (newspapers and Newsweek magazine)
George Will presents a CLASSICAL CONSERVATIVEperspec-
tive on contemporary United States politics. Like tradi-
tional British conservative Edmund BURKE, Will values
tradition, order, ETHICS, and decorum. He strives to
revive the best of the U.S. political and cultural past,
including CLASSICAL REPUBLICANISMand Judeo-CHRISTIAN
moral standards.306 welfare state