[Mws 18.2 (2018) 159-185] issN 1470-8078 https://doi.org/10.15543/Mws/2018/2/3 © Max weber studies 2018, Rm 4-12, London Metropolitan University, 84 Moorgate, London EC2M 6sQ. Traditional Action and Traditional Authority 1 Joshua Rust Abstract two standard interpretations of traditional action are rejected. traditional action is not subjectively meaningful in the sense of having what talcott Parsons calls a ‘nor- mative orientation’. but nor is traditional action a matter of blind habit. i contend, instead, that traditional action is subjectively meaningful insofar as the actor’s seem- ingly aberrant behavior can be rendered intelligible by appeal to shared exemplars. i provide further evidence for the proposed interpretation of traditional action by showing how it illuminates weber’s account of traditional authority. the traditions that legitimize a traditional master consist, not just in rules or decisions, but in exem- plars and precedents as found in the ‘documents of tradition’. i conclude with a dis- cussion of how the proposed account of traditional action and authority illuminates charismatic authority and weber’s notion of the irrational. Keywords: traditional action, traditional authority, social action, ideal type, exem- plars, talcott Parsons. weber’s interpreters have long struggled to reconcile his category of traditional action with his most fundamental methodological commitments. weber holds that where the natural sciences seek the psychophysical antecedents of human behavior, only the socio- cultural sciences attempt to recover an action’s subjective meaning. actions are subjectively meaningful, on Parsons’s interpretation of weber, to the extent that an agent is responsive to norms: ‘there is no such thing as action except as an effort to conform to norms’ (Parsons 1949: 76-77). traditional action is among the subjectively meaningful, ideal types of action. accordingly, it too must have a normative orientation on Parsons’s view: traditional action has 1. i am grateful to M. Michael Rosenberg, sam whimster, and the anonymous referees for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. This content downloaded from