Max Weber :What was Important for the Rise of the City ¨

Unlike Marx who emphasized the dominance of economic considerations, Weber explored the way cultural and political factors affected individual behaviour and social history along with economic activity. He undertook survey of various cities throughout the world unlike previous theorists who focused primarily on the European cities.

Weber argued that cities are products of surplus. Weber's urban community is based on trade or commercial relations . In rural areas, people are more or less self-sufficient, growing their own food, providing their own clothing, and so on. Trade and commerce are of limited importance there. It is not so in the cities. Economic self-sufficiency is nearly impossible; people are economically interdependent.