Although we have presented a relatively unambiguous image of the ideal type, there are contradictions in the way weber defined the concept. In addition, in his own substantive work, weber used the ideal type in ways that differed from the ways he said it was to be used. As burger noted, “the ideal types presented in economy and society are a mixture of definitions, classification, and specific hypotheses seemingly too divergent to be reconcilable with weber’s statements” (1976:118). Although she disagrees with burger on weber’s inconsistency in defining ideal types, Hekman also recognizes that weber offers several varieties of ideal types: