Key Arguments

• Weber defines parties as 'sociations based on (formally) free recruitment that are intended to lend power to leaders of organisations, and so by extension, provide their members with (ideal or material) Chancen—in the realisation of objective aims, or the gaining of personal advantage, or both.'
• He notes that parties 'can be transitory sociations, or they can be intended to last; they can be formed in an organisation of any kind, and assume any kind of organisational form, [including those] with a charismatic following, or traditional retainers, or adherents sharing purposively or value-rational aims, or a general perspective on the world.'
• He distinguishes several bases: parties 'intended to enable their leader to gain power so that he can appoint the party’s staff to administrative positions (party based on patronage)', parties that 'primarily, and consciously, represent the interests of social ranks or classes (party based on social rank or class)', and parties that 'pursue substantive and objectives aims, or be oriented to abstract principles (party based on a particular view of the world)'.
• Weber stresses that 'Conceptually, parties are only a possibility within organisations, whose leadership parties seek to influence or conquer', thereby limiting the concept analytically to intra‑organisational power struggles.
• He adds that 'it is possible to form party cartels across organisations, however, and this is not a rare occurrence', acknowledging cross‑organisational alliances while maintaining that parties presuppose organisational contexts.

Source Quotes

9. Parties §18. Parties are sociations based on (formally) free recruitment that are intended to lend power to leaders of organisations, and so by extension, provide their members with (ideal or material) Chancen—in the realisation of objective aims, or the gaining of personal advantage, or both. They can be transitory sociations, or they can be intended to last; they can be formed in an organisation of any kind, and assume any kind of organisational form, [including those] with a charismatic following, or traditional retainers, or adherents sharing purposively or value-rational aims, or a general perspective on the world.

Parties are sociations based on (formally) free recruitment that are intended to lend power to leaders of organisations, and so by extension, provide their members with (ideal or material) Chancen—in the realisation of objective aims, or the gaining of personal advantage, or both. They can be transitory sociations, or they can be intended to last; they can be formed in an organisation of any kind, and assume any kind of organisational form, [including those] with a charismatic following, or traditional retainers, or adherents sharing purposively or value-rational aims, or a general perspective on the world. They can be oriented more to personal interests, or to objective aims.

They can be oriented more to personal interests, or to objective aims. In practice, they may be officially, or in fact, intended to enable their leader to gain power so that he can appoint the party’s staff to administrative positions (party based on patronage). Or they can primarily, and consciously, represent the interests of social ranks or classes (party based on social rank or class); or they can pursue substantive and objectives aims, or be oriented to abstract principles (party based on a particular view of the world). Appointing its own members to posts in the administration tends to be a subsidiary aim, the objective party “programme” not infrequently a means of recruiting outsiders to membership.

Appointing its own members to posts in the administration tends to be a subsidiary aim, the objective party “programme” not infrequently a means of recruiting outsiders to membership. Conceptually, parties are only a possibility within organisations, whose leadership parties seek to influence or conquer; it is possible to form party cartels across organisations, however, and this is not a rare occurrence. Parties can employ all means to achieve power.

Key Concepts

• §18. Parties are sociations based on (formally) free recruitment that are intended to lend power to leaders of organisations, and so by extension, provide their members with (ideal or material) Chancen—in the realisation of objective aims, or the gaining of personal advantage, or both.
• They can be transitory sociations, or they can be intended to last; they can be formed in an organisation of any kind, and assume any kind of organisational form, [including those] with a charismatic following, or traditional retainers, or adherents sharing purposively or value-rational aims, or a general perspective on the world.
• In practice, they may be officially, or in fact, intended to enable their leader to gain power so that he can appoint the party’s staff to administrative positions (party based on patronage). Or they can primarily, and consciously, represent the interests of social ranks or classes (party based on social rank or class); or they can pursue substantive and objectives aims, or be oriented to abstract principles (party based on a particular view of the world).
• Conceptually, parties are only a possibility within organisations, whose leadership parties seek to influence or conquer; it is possible to form party cartels across organisations, however, and this is not a rare occurrence.

Context

Opening definitional paragraph of §18 'Parties', where Weber provides a general concept of parties, enumerates main bases (patronage, rank/class, worldview), and restricts parties to intra‑organisational power struggles while allowing for cartels across organisations.