From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology

Max Weber

Psychology Press, 1991 - History - 490 pages

Max Weber (1864-1920) was one of the most prolific and influential sociologists of the twentieth century. This classic collection draws together his key papers. This edition contains a new preface by Professor Bryan S. Turner.

Contents

• A Biographical View: 3
• Political Concerns: 32
• Intellectual Orientations: 45
• Marx and Weber: 46
• a Philosophy of History: 51
• Methods of Social Science: 55
• The Sociology of Ideas and Interests: 61
• Social Structures and Types of Capitalism: 65
• Conditions of Freedom and the Image of Man: 70
• SCIENCE AND POLITICS: 75
• Politics as a Vocation: 77
• Science as a Vocation: 129
• POWER: 157
• Structures of Power: 159
• The Economic Foundations of Imperilaism: 162
• The Nation: 171
• Class Status Party: 180
• Determination of ClassSituation by MarketSituation: 181
• Communal Action Flowing from Class Interest: 183
• Types of Class Struggle: 184
• Status Honor: 186
• Guarantees of Status Stratification: 187
• Ethnic Segregation and Caste: 188
• Status Privileges: 190
• Economic Conditions and Effects of Status Stratification: 192
• Parties: 194
• Bureacracy: 196
• The Position of the Official: 198
• The Presuppositions and Causes of Bureaucracy: 204
• The Quantitative Development of Administrative Tasks: 209
• Qualitative Changes of Administrative Tasks: 212
• Technical Advantages of Bureaucratic Organization: 214
• Bureaucracy and Law: 216
• The Concentration of the Means of Administration: 221
• The Leveling of Social Differences: 224
• The Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine: 228
• Economic and Social Consequences of Bureaucracy: 230
• The Power Position of Bureaucracy: 232
• Stages in the Development of Bureaucracy: 235
• The Rationalization of Education and Training: 240
• The Sociology of Charismatic Authority: 245
• Foundations and Instability of Charismatic Authority: 248
• Charismatic Kingship: 251
• The Meaning of Discipline: 253
• The Origins of Discipline in War: 255
• The Discipline of LargeScale Economic Organizations: 261
• Discipline and Charisma: 262
• RELIGION: 265
• The Social Psychology of the World Religions: 267
• The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism: 302
• Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions: 323
• Typology of Asceticism and of Mysticism: 324
• Directions of the Abnegation of the World: 327
• The Economic Sphere: 331
• The Political Sphere: 333
• The Esthetic Sphere: 340
• The Erotic Sphere: 343
• The Intellectual Sphere: 350
• The Three Forms of Theodicy: 358
• SOCIAL STRUCTURES: 361
• Capitalism and Rural Society in Germany: 363
• National Character and the Junkers: 386
• The Brahman and the Castes: 396
• Caste and Tribe: 398
• Caste and Guild: 399
• Caste and Status Group: 405
• The Social Rank Order of the Castes in General: 409
• Castes and Traditionalism: 411
• The Chinese Literati: 416
• Confucius: 421
• The Development of the Examination System: 422
• The Typological Position of Confucian Education: 426
• The StatusHonor of the Literati: 434
• The Gentleman Ideal: 436
• The Prestige of Officialdom: 438
• Views on Economic Policy: 440
• Sultanism and the Eunuchs as Political Opponents of the Literati: 442
• NOTES: 445
• INDEX: 469

About the author

Max Weber, a German political economist, legal historian, and sociologist, had an impact on the social sciences that is difficult to overestimate. According to a widely held view, he was the founder of the modern way of conceptualizing society and thus the modern social sciences. His major interest was the process of rationalization, which characterizes Western civilization---what he called the "demystification of the world." This interest led him to examine the three types of domination or authority that characterize hierarchical relationships: charismatic, traditional, and legal. It also led him to the study of bureaucracy; all of the world's major religions; and capitalism, which he viewed as a productof the Protestant ethic. With his contemporary, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim---they seem not to have known each other's work---he created modern sociology. C. Wright Mills, an American sociologist, was one of the most controversial social scientists of the mid-twentieth century. He considered himself a rebel against both the academic establishment and American society in general, and he rarely tried to separate his radical ideas from his teaching and writing. Irving Louis Horowitz summarized much of Mills's ideas in the subtitle of his biography of him: An American Utopian. Mill's most traditional sociological study is The Puerto Rican Journey. His most direct attack on his colleagues in sociology is The Sociological Imagination (1959) (which he found left much to be desired). His most ideological work is The Power Elite (1956), an attempt to explain the overall power structure of the United States. Mills thought that the dominant "value-free" methodology of American sociology was an ideological mask, hiding values that he did not share. According to his younger colleague Immanuel Wallerstein, Mills was essentially a utopian reformer who thought that knowledge properly used could bring about a better society.

Bibliographic information

• Title: From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology; A galaxy book; Routledge Classics in Sociology Series; Routledge sociology classics
• Author: Max Weber
• Editors: Hans Gerth, Hans Heinrich Gerth, Charles Wright Mills
• Translated by: Hans Gerth, Hans Heinrich Gerth, Charles Wright Mills
• Contributors: Hans Gerth, Hans Heinrich Gerth, Charles Wright Mills, Bryan S. Turner
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Psychology Press, 1991
• ISBN: 0415060567, 9780415060561
• Length: 490 pages
• Subjects: History / General; Philosophy / General; Political Science / General; Political Science / History & Theory; Social Science / Sociology / General