The consequentialist model in social sciences is based on the fact that the explanation of action is: a) motivated by the perspective of obtaining a goal (teleology); b) can also be motivated by prior awareness and judgment related to its feasibility; c) is retroactively motivated (teleonomy) by the consequences the action produces other than of attaining the goal itself. Weber and Pareto bring consequentialism permanently into sociology, though without the utilitarian option Scottish moralists originally applied to it. Weber proposes a formal «methodological» categorization which gives it a reduced level of abstraction and opens it to substantial typification. The model therefore becomes an essential cognitive component of action, profitably developed by contemporary social theory, and also aims to a pragmatic use of the discipline in terms of policy making, prediction and social projects.