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8 - Weberian Social Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2020

By
Austin Harrington
Edited by
Peter Kivisto
Peter Kivisto
Affiliation:
Augustana College, Illinois
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Summary

Max Weber’s influence on currents of thought over the past century has been profound and far-reaching. This chapter surveys four main areas of impact: the philosophy of the social sciences; class, economy, and rationalization; religion, culture, and social change; and power, politics, and the nation-state. A concluding section addresses the contemporary status of Weber’s thinking regarding the “rise of the West” and its place in world history.

Austin Harrington is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds. His recent publications include German Cosmopolitan Social Thought and the Idea of the West: Voices from Weimar (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and Georg Simmel: Essays on Art and Aesthetics (University of Chicago Press, 2020).

Keywords

DisenchantmentpowerrationalizationreligionVerstehenWeber
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory , pp. 145 - 160
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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