Max Weber's Methodologies

Max Weber's Methodologies

Author: Sven Eliæson

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Published: 2002-09-10

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780745618135

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Max Weber is widely regarded as the most important and influential figure in the history of the social sciences. Among other things, he wrote extensively on the methodology of the social sciences, but his writings on methodology are complex and are the subject of many conflicting interpretations. In this authoritative new book, Sven Eliaeson provides a comprehensive introduction to Weber's methodology and to the various ways it has been interpreted by subsequent scholars in Europe and the United States. Eliaeson shows how the vested interests of scholars have resulted in biased interpretations of Weber's work. Weber was preoccupied with the intellectual problems of his time and not with our current disciplinary crises. By placing Weber's thought and methodology in its historical context, Eliaeson is able to provide a masterly reconstruction of his central concerns while at the same time exploring the enduring relevance of Weber's work for sociology today. This book will be recognized as a definitive work on Weber's methodology and will be an indispensable text for students and scholars in sociology and the social sciences.


Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber's Methodology

Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber's Methodology

Author: Hans Henrik Bruun

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1317058844

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First published in 1972, this book on Weber's methodological writings is today regarded as a modern classic in its field. In this new expanded edition, the author has revised and updated the original text, and translated the numerous German quotations into English. He has also added a new introduction, where he discusses major issues raised in the relevant secondary literature since 1972. The author traces the relationship between values and science in Max Weber's methodology of its central aspects: value freedom, value relation (Wertbeziehung), value analysis, the ideal type and the special problems which pertain to the sphere of politics. Weber's thought is presented and discussed on the basis of a meticulous analysis of all available, published or unpublished, original material. The book is indispensable for all serious Weber scholars and provides the general student with a clear, accessible and authoritative exposition of major aspects of Weber's methodology.


Max Weber’s Theory of Personality

Max Weber’s Theory of Personality

Author: Sara R. Farris

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 9004254099

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Max Weber's writings in The Sociology of Religion are today acknowledged as a classic of the social sciences in the twentieth century. They are key texts for understanding Weber’s central sociological concepts concerning Western and Eastern ‘civilisations’. This book argues that the concept and problematic of personality plays a pivotal role within these works. Providing a detailed reconstruction of this concept within Weber’s systematic studies of world religions as well as throughout his methodological and political writings, this book shows its complex development within three strictly related problematics associated with Weber’s influential comparative historical sociology and theory of social action – individuation, politics and orientalism. Together they shape and constitute what is distinctive in Max Weber’s theory of personality.


Max Weber and Institutional Theory

Max Weber and Institutional Theory

Author: M. Rainer Lepsius

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 3319447084

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This book presents a collection of essays on institutional theory written by the German sociologist and Weber-expert M. Rainer Lepsius. Based on Weber’s work, the author develops concepts of institutional theory, which he subsequently applies to topics such as National Socialism, democratization processes, German unification, and the institutionalization of the European Union. By showing how charismatic leadership can under certain circumstances threaten democratic structures and curtail individual freedoms, and by analyzing the structural and cultural conditions under which people develop trust in political and social structures and ultimately come to support and comply with them, the author provides a sound analytical understanding of the development of democratic institutions and a democratic political culture. This collection of essays was edited, translated and commented on by Claus Wendt.


The Oxford Handbook of Max Weber

The Oxford Handbook of Max Weber

Author: Edith Hanke

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 0190679549

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Active at the time when the social sciences were founded, Max Weber's social theory contributed significantly to a wide range of fields and disciplines. Considering his prominence, it makes sense to take stock of the Weberian heritage and to explore the ways in which Weber's work and ideas have contributed to our understanding of the modern world. Using his work as a point of departure, The Oxford Handbook of Max Weber investigates the Weberian legacy today, identifying the enduring problems and themes associated with his thought that have contemporary significance: the nature of modern capitalism, neo-liberal global economic policy, nationalism, religion and secularization, threats to legality, the culture of modernity, bureaucratic rule and leadership, politics and ethics, the value of science, power and inequality. These problems are global in scope, and the Weberian approach has been used to address them in very different societies. Thus, the Handbook also features chapters on Europe, Turkey, Islam, Judaism, China, India, and international politics. The Handbook emphasizes the use and application of Weber's ideas. It offers a journey through the intellectual terrain that scholars continue to explore using the tools and perspectives of Weberian analysis. The essays explore how Weber's concepts, hypotheses, and perspectives have been applied in practice, and how they can be applied in the future in social inquiry, not only in Europe and North America, but globally. The volume is divided into six parts exploring, in turn: Capitalism in a Globalized World, Society and Social Structure, Politics and the State, Religion, Culture, and Science and Knowledge.


Max Weber's Theory of Modernity

Max Weber's Theory of Modernity

Author: Dr Michael Symonds

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2015-08-28

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1472462866

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Weber’s theory of meaning and modernity is articulated through an understanding of his account of the way in which the pursuit of meaning in the modern world has been shaped by the loss of Western religion and how such pursuit gives sense to the phenomena of human suffering and death. Through a close, scholarly reading of Weber’s extensive writings and Vocation Lectures, the author explores the concepts of ‘paradox’ and ‘brotherliness’ as found in Weber’s work, in order to offer an original exposition of Weber’s actual theory of how meaning and meaninglessness work in the modern world.


Max Weber

Max Weber

Author: Marianne Weber

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-12

Total Pages: 1038

ISBN-13: 1351506587

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A founder of contemporary social science, Max Weber was born in Germany in 1864. At his death 56 years later, he was nationally known for his scholarly and political writings, but it was the international reception of his oeuvre over the last forty years that has made him world-famous. "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," "The Economic Ethics of the World Religions" and his magnum opus, "Economy and Society," with its treatment of the relations of economics, politics, law and religion, belong to the great achievements of 20th-century social science. The groundwork for the posthumous Weber reception was laid by Weber's widow Marianne, a well-known feminist writer, who followed up her edition of his collected works with one of the greatest biographies in a generation that produced many important accounts of itself. Although unavailable in English until a decade ago, the importance of Marianne Weber's 1926 work had been widely understood. Sociologist Robert A. Nisbet called it "a moving and deeply felt biographical memoir." Historian Gerhard Masur cited the book as "the foundation of all further inquiries into Max Weber's life and influence." Beginning with Max's ancestry and early years, Marianne Weber guides us through his life as student, young lawyer, scholar and political writer, quoting liberally from his voluminous correspondence. Her account of his nervous breakdown after 1897, which curtailed his academic career but ultimately strengthened his creative energies, provides deep insight into some of the personal tensions that troubled him to the end. In addition to her perceptive personal and intellectual life before the First World War, describing many scholars, social reformers, politicians and literary figures within and beyond the famous Heidelberg circle of the Webers. The new introduction by Guenther Roth situates Marianne Weber's own role in the contemporary setting and discusses the current state of Weber research and of the international Weber reception.


Max Weber's Insights and Errors

Max Weber's Insights and Errors

Author: Stanislav Andreski

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 1135657912

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Max Weber (1864-1920) is generally recognised as one of the founding fathers of modern sociology. His ideas continue to be discussed by sociologists and historians and much homage is paid to his contribution to knowledge. However, such is the awe which the breadth of his knowledge inspires that most general books about Weber contain summaries rather than criticism. This book is the first attempt to evaluate Weber's entire work in the light of historical knowledge available today and of contemporary analytic philosophy. Professor Andreski shows where Weber's true greatness lies, which of Weber's ideas are still valid, which need either correction or modification and which merit rejection. Andreski places Weber in his social and cultural context of the intellectual preeminence of German culture in the second half of the nineteenth century. He examines Weber's most famous theses on objectivity, methodological individualism, ethical neutrality; explanation versus understanding; ideal types; rationalisation; bureaucracy, charisma, power, law and religion; as well as the explanation of the rise of capitalism and uniqueness of Western civilization. Andreski concludes by considering what contemporary scholars should learn from Weber if they want to advance further. He argues that the most important lesson is that comparative study of history (including recent history) is the only method of giving empirical support to an examination of large-scale social processes or a general proposition about them. This book was first published in 1984.


Max Weber

Max Weber

Author: Hans Henrik Bruun

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-05-04

Total Pages: 602

ISBN-13: 1136642412

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Weber’s methodological writings form the bedrock of key ideas across the social sciences. His discussion of value freedom and value commitment, causality, understanding and explanation, theory building and ideal types have been of fundamental importance, and their impact remains undiminished today. These ideas influence the current research practice of sociologists, historians, economists and political scientists and are central to debates in the philosophy of social science. But, until now, Weber's extensive writings on methodology have lacked a comprehensive publication. Edited by two of the world's leading Weber scholars, Collected Methodological Writings will provide a completely new, accurate and reliable translation of Weber’s extensive output, including previously untranslated letters. Accompanying editorial commentary explains the context of, and interconnections between, all these writings, and additional useful features include a glossary of German terms and an English key, endnotes, bibliography, and person and subject indexes.