Max Weber S Sociology Of Civilizations A Reconstruction

This volume examines civilizations through the broad lens articulated by the works of Max Weber. In focusing upon his comparative-historical mode of analysis and his causal explanations for the sources, contours, and trajectories of civilizations, this study reconstructs Weber’s sociology in a manner that provides clear guidelines to researchers seeking to investigate civilizations systematically. Through detailed interpretations of the West’s unique development from Antiquity to the Modern era, precise comparisons to the long-range and singular pathways taken by China and India, and careful demarcations of the "particular rationalisms" of several civilizations, the author addresses Weber’s powerful model-building on the one hand and his opposition to organic holism and structural presuppositions on the other hand. Both a broad-ranging conceptual framework and case-based empirical investigations are pivotal to Weber. His research strategy emphasizes further the "subjective meanings" of actors East and West and the deep cultural origins of groups. Finally, this volume masterfully conveys Weber’s contextual and multi-causal methodology rooted in a tight interweaving of the present with the past. Max Weber’s Sociology of Civilizations: A Reconstruction will appeal to comparative sociologists and historians, as well as to theorists of all persuasions. The social scientist pursuing a cross-civilizational agenda will here discover the distinct contribution of Weber’s "interpretive understanding" procedures to the now-essential field of civilizational analysis.

This volume outlines Max Weber’s comparative-historical sociology of "interpretive understanding" (verstehen) in a manner that clarifies his complex mode of analysis and multi-causal focus. Presenting the central features of his methodology, it demonstrates the strengths of his research strategies through discussions of his major works and overarching concerns. Among other themes, this study addresses the origins of the American political culture, the longevity of its civic sphere, and the multiple causes behind the unique historical pathways followed by several civilizations. Indeed, through summaries of Weber’s procedures and their application in his own empirical studies, Max Weber’s Sociology sustains a simultaneous orientation to his "big picture" themes and his rigorous manner of analysis. It demonstrates in so doing the capacity of Weber’s sociology to ground firmly both “ideal-type” theorizing and empirically oriented investigations. This volume will appeal to scholars throughout the social sciences with interests in the American civic sphere, the West’s uniqueness, ”the Protestant ethic thesis,” the multiple ways that civilizations develop, and the diverse twists and turns of Weber’s comparative-historical sociology.

This volume outlines Weber's comparative-historical sociology of 'interpretive understanding'. Drawing on central text to show how Weber himself applied his own procedures, it demonstrates the analytic strengths of his research strategies through discussions of his major works and concerns.

Bringing together the author's major scholarly work on Weber over the last thirty years, Max Weber's Comparative-Historical Sociology Today addresses major themes in Weber's thought, whilst also examining the mode of analysis practised in his comparative-historical writings. By exploring Weber's concepts and procedures, the individual chapters seek to convey the rigor of his research strategies, demonstrating their uniqueness. In this light, this study proceeds to identify as incomplete and then reconstruct the analyses undertaken by Weber of the rise of Confucianism in China, the caste system in India, and monotheism in ancient Israel. The analysis then advances to the modern era, utilising Weber's research procedures to explain the origins of four independent phenomena: the singularity of the American political culture, the cultural foundations of modern citizenship, cultural pessimism (Kulturpessimismus) in nineteenth century Germany, and the 'location' of work in contemporary German society. A dialogue with a variety of recent major schools is pursued throughout this volume. Offering a rich examination of the major themes in Weber's sociology, alongside a reconstruction of his mode of analysis and application of his approach, this book will appeal to scholars around the world with interests in social theory, German and American societies, cultural sociology, political sociology, the sociology of knowledge, comparative-historical sociology, and the sociology of civilizations.

This ambitious book addresses questions concerning an old theme - the rise and fall of ancient civilization - but does so from a distinctive theoretical perspective by taking its lead from the work of the great German sociologist Max Weber.

First published in 1980. This is Volume II of Mannheim's collected works, translated by Edward Shils and includes recent developments in the author's thinking since 1935 when it was originally written.

This book brings together leading figures in history, sociology, political science, feminism and critical theory to interpret, evaluate, criticize and update Weber's legacy. In a collection of specially commissioned pieces and translated articles the Weberian scholarship recognizes Max Weber as the figure central to contemporary debates on the need for societal rationality, the limits of reason and the place of culture and conduct in the supposedly post-religious age. In Part 1, Wolfgang Mommsen, Wilhelm Hennis, Guenther Roth and Wolfgang Schluchter provide a full and varied account of the theme of rationalization in the world civilizations. In Part 2 Pierre Bourdieu and Barry Hindess critically examine Weber's social action model, and Johannes Weiss and Martin Albrow address the putative 'crisis' of Western rationality. In Part 3 Jeffrey Alexander, Ralph Schroeder, Bryan Turner, Roslyn Bologh and Sam Whimster scrutinize Weber's understanding of modernity with its characteristic plurality of 'gods and demons'; they focus on its implications for individuality and personality, the body and sexuality, feminism and aesthetic modernism. Part 4 turns to politics, law and the state in the contemporary world: Colin Gordon on liberalism, Luciano Cavalli on charismatic politics, Stephen Turner and Regis Factor on decisionism and power and Scott Lash on modernism, substantice rationality and law. This book was first published in 1987.