ideáltípus

An ideáltípus, or ideal type, is a conceptual tool used in sociology and other social sciences, most notably by Max Weber. It is not a description of reality, nor is it a moral ideal or a goal to strive for. Instead, it is a mental construct, a caricature or exaggerated portrayal of social phenomena, designed to help researchers analyze and understand complex social reality by highlighting certain characteristics and relationships.

The ideal type is formed by the researcher through the selective accentuation of one or more aspects of a phenomenon and the compilation of a multitude of diffuse, discrete, more or less present and occasionally absent concrete individual phenomena, which all cohere in an at least uniform way. This process involves the systematic elaboration of certain elements that are considered significant for the research question.

For example, Weber developed ideal types of bureaucracy, capitalism, and authority. In his ideal type of bureaucracy, he outlined characteristics such as a clear hierarchy, division of labor, formal rules, and impersonality. No actual bureaucratic organization perfectly embodies all these features, but by using this ideal type, sociologists can compare real-world bureaucracies and identify deviations, analyze their causes, and understand their consequences. The ideal type serves as a measuring rod, a yardstick against which empirical reality can be compared and analyzed.