One theoretical school derives from the comparative sociology of Max Weber, who sought to understand the distinctiveness of modern capitalist Europe through comparison with other societies. Weber argued that Europeans had developed certain cultural traits, including rationality, inquisitiveness, and a strong work ethic, that favored capitalism and economic development. His followers modified and revised Weber's thought in many ways, but a recognizably Weberian approach to the past is identifiable in a great deal of historical and sociological scholarship. Weber's influence is particularly obvious in modernization theory, which views economic development largely as a function of the internal policies and cultural values of individual societies. Modernization theory reached the height of its influence in the 1950s and 1960s, but it continues to inspire scholarship in some quarters. The modernization approach has deeply influenced historians like E. L. Jones and David S. Landes, who view European economic development as the result of cultural traits that favor innovation, social organization that rewards hard work, and governments that encourage initiative rather than stifling it through excessive taxation or regulation. Since the key to historical development from this perspective is the internal organization of individual societies, the especially effective organization of European society becomes the principal explanation for European economic development and world dominance. Because of its emphasis on Europe as the principal site of historical development, the modernization school offers a fundamentally Eurocentric explanation of modern world history. Indeed, this approach also implies a Eurocentric understanding of the larger global past, since some scholars have sought to trace Europe's supposed distinctiveness to deep historical roots.