Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:15:24.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Priests, Prophets, Jews and Germans : the political basis of Max Weber's conception of ethno-national solidarities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Get access

Extract

When we raise the question of how ethnic groups are formed, how they evolve and how they persist over time, it is here as elsewhere good practice to start by interrogating the classical contributions to sociology. Of the sociological classics, Max Weber provides unquestionably the most significant early discussions and the most explicit contribution on ethnicity. Michael Hechter (1976, 1978) has, most directly perhaps, drawn attention to Weber's contribution and in turn tried to resolve, by means of his concept of the ‘cultural division of labour’ what he saw as difficulties in Weber's typology of class and status groups. Hechter thus addressed a theme arising from Marxist debates on class, race and ethnicity (e.g., Bonacich, 1972, 1973) in the early seventies that in recent years has reached a high level of maturity (e.g., Wolpe, 1986). Neither Hechter's thesis nor the Marxist discussion, however, deal with what I believe lies at the core of Weber's conception of ethnicity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, Gary, 1988, Max Weber on ‘Jewish Rationalism’ and the Jewish Question, in: Politics, Culture and Society 1, 3, pp. 358391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abraham, Gary, 1991, Max Weber and the Jewish Question: A Study in the Social Outlook of His Sociology (Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press).Google Scholar
Abraham, Gary, 1991, Modernist Anti-Pluralism and the Polish Question. In: New German Critique 53 (Spring/Summer) pp. 3366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramowski, Günter, 1966, Das Geschichtsbild Max Webers. Universalgeschichte am Leitfaden des okzidentalen Rationalisierungsprozesses (Stuttgart, Klett), 160 p.Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict, 1978, Imaginary Communities (London, New Left Books).Google Scholar
Arendt, Hannah, (1950), 1966, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York, Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich).Google Scholar
Aschheim, Steven E., 1982, Brothers and Strangers: The East European Jew in German Jewish Consciousness, 1800–1923 (Madison, Wisc., University of Wisconsin Press).Google Scholar
Barth, Fredrick, 1969, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Boston, Little, Brown & Co).Google Scholar
Baumgarten, Eduard, 1964, Max Weber, Werk und Person (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck).Google Scholar
Bodemann, Y. Michal, 1991, The State in the Construction of Ethnicity and Ideological Labour: The Case of German Jewry, Critical Sociology 17, 3, pp. 3546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodemann, Y. Michal, 1986, Staat und Ethnizität: Der Aufbau der Jüdischen Gemeinden im Kalten Krieg (State and Ethnicity: The Reconstruction of Jewish Communities in the Cold War), in Micha, Brumlik et al. , ed., Juedisches Leben in Deutschland seit 1945 (Frankfurt, Athenaeum Verlag).Google Scholar
Bonacich, Edna, 1973, A Theory of Middleman Minorities, American Sociological Review 38, pp. 583594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonacich, Edna, 1980, Class Approaches to Ethnicity and Race, Insurgent Sociologist 10, 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonacich, Edna, 1972, A theory of ethnic antagonism: The Split Labour market, American Sociological Review 37, 5, pp. 533547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Causse, Antonin, 1937, Du groupe ethnique à la communauté religieuse (Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan).Google Scholar
Eschelbacher, Rabbi F., 1927, Central-Verein Zeitung, Jg. VI, 5 (4 02).Google Scholar
Fleischmann, Eugène, 1981, Max Weber, die Juden und das Ressentiment, in Schluchter, 1981, pp. 263288.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest, 1983, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca (New York, Cornell University Press), 150 p.Google Scholar
Gerth, Hans and Mills, C. Wright, 1946, From Max Weber. Essays in Sociology (New York, Oxford University Press), 490 p.Google Scholar
Gilcher-Holtey, , 1988, Max Weber und die Frauen. In: Gneuss, Christian and Kocka, Jürgen, eds., Max Weber, Ein Symposion (München, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag), pp. 142154.Google Scholar
Gramsci, Antonio, 1971, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, edited by Hoare, Quintin and Smith, Geoffrey Nowell (New York, International Publishers).Google Scholar
Haam, Achad, 1913, Am Scheidewege (Berlin, Jüdischer Verlag).Google Scholar
Hechter, Michael, 1978, Group Formation and the Cultural Division of Labour, American Journal of Sociology, 84, 2, pp. 293318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hechter, Michael, 1976, Response to Cohen: Max Weber on Ethnicity and Ethnic Change, American Journal of Sociology, 5, pp. 11621168.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric J., 1990, Nations and Nationalism since 178O. Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), 191 p.Google Scholar
Hughes, Everett C., 1971, The Sociological Eye (Chicago, Aldine).Google Scholar
Lenhardt, Gero, 1990, Ethnische Identität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. In: Prokla 79, pp. 132154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leon, Abram, 1970, The Jewish Question. A Marxist Interpretation (New York, Pathfinder Press).Google Scholar
Liebeschütz, Hans, 1964, Max Weber's Historical Interpretation of Judaism, Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, pp. 4168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manasse, Ernst Moritz, 1947, Max Weber on Race. In: Social Research 14, 191221.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl, 1963, On the Jewish Question, in: Bottomore, T. B., ed., Karl Marx. Early Writings (New York, McGraw-Hill).Google Scholar
Michels, Robert, 1949, First Lectures in Political Sociology (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press).Google Scholar
Momigliano, Arnaldo, 1987, On Pagans, Jews and Christians (Middeltown, CT, Welseyan University Press), 288 p.Google Scholar
Mommsen, Wolfgang J., 1985, Max Weber and German Politics (1890–1920) (Chicago, University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Mommsen, Wolfgang J., 1974, Max Weber. Gesellschaft, Politik und Geschichte (Frankfurt, Suhrkamp), 281 p.Google Scholar
Nairn, Tom, 1977, The Break-Up of Britain (London, Weidenfeld and Nicholson).Google Scholar
Park, Robert E., 1950, Race and Culture (New York, The Free Press).Google Scholar
Rehberg, Karl-Siegbert, 1989, Das Bild des Judentums in der frühen deutschen Soziologie. Fremdheit und Rationalität als Typusmerkmale bei Wemer Sombart, Max Weber und Georg Simmel. pp. 127174; In: Wiehn, Erhard R., Juden in der Soziologie (Konstanz, Hartung-Gorre Verlag), 351 p.Google Scholar
Rex, John and Mason, David, eds., 1986, Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations (Cambridge, Cambridge U. Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, Paul Lawrence, 1990, Revolutionary Antisemitism in Germany. From Kant to Wagner (Princeteon, Princeton U. Press).Google Scholar
Sartre, Jean Paul, 1965, Anti-Semite and Jew. Translated by Becker, George J. (New York, Schocken Books).Google Scholar
Schiper, Isadore, 1959, Max Weber on the Sociological Basis of the Jewish Religion, Jewish Journal of Sociology, 1, 1959.Google Scholar
Schluchter, Wolfgang, 1981, Max Webers Studie über das antike Judentum. Interpretation und Kritik (Frankfurt, Suhrkamp).Google Scholar
Schmitt, Carl, 1928, Verfassungslehre (Berlin, Duncker und Humblot).Google Scholar
Shmueli, Efraim, 1968, The ‘Pariah-People’ and its ‘Charismatic Leadership’. A Re-Evaluation of Max Weber's ‘Ancient Judaism. In: Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research, 36, pp. 167247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sombart, Werner, 1912, Die Zukunft der Juden (Berlin, Duncker und Humblot), 89 p.Google Scholar
Sombart, Werner, 1951, The Jews and Modern Capitalism (New York, Free Press).Google Scholar
Tal, Uriel, 1975, Christians and Jews in Germany. Religion, Politics and Ideology in the Second Reich, 1870–1914 (Ithaca, Cornell University Press), 359 p.Google Scholar
Volkov, Shulamit, 1990, Jüdisches Leben und Antisemitismus im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (München, C.H. Beck).Google Scholar
Weber, Marianne, 1926, Max Weber, Ein Lebensbild (Tübingen, J.C., B. Mohr).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1921, Gesammelte Politische Schriften (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck) (GPS).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1922, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre. (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck) 613 p. (GAW).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1924, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Sozial-und Virtschaftsgeschichte (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck), 556 p. (GASW).Google Scholar
Weber, Max 1924, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Soziologie und Sozialpolitik (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck) 518 p. (GASS).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1927, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie III (Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr) (Paul Siebeck) 442 p. (GARS III).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1952, Ancient Judaism, trs. and ed. Gerth, H.H. and Martindale, D. (New York, The Free Press) (AJ).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1956 [1964], Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Köln/Berlin, Kiepenheuer und Witsch) (WuG).Google Scholar
Weber, Max, 1968, Economy and Society, edited by Roth, G. and Wittich, C.. (New York, Bedminster) (E&S).Google Scholar
Wolpe, Harold, Class Concepts, Class Struggle and Racism, in: Rex, John and Mason, David, (eds.) 1986, Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations. (Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press).Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Irving M., 1984, Ancient Judaism. Biblical Criticism from Max Weber to the Present (Cambridge, Polity Press).Google Scholar