This book explores the latest thinking about Max Weber and his continuing influence on theoretical and empirical interests today. Bringing together the work of leading scholars from a variety of disciplines, it illuminates Weber’s thought in a number of key areas, including the methodology and philosophy of social science, comparative religion, the rationalization process, political sociology, the sociology of law, and the Protestant ethic and the development of capitalism.
An international collection that demonstrates the enduring importance of Weber’s thought to contemporary sociology and the discipline’s major concerns, The Routledge International Handbook on Max Weber will appeal to scholars in a range of disciplines, including sociology, social theory, politics, philosophy, law, and international relations.
Introduction: Max Weber Today, Part I: The Life and Work, 1. Weber Redivivus: Reconsidering the Life and Work, 2. Max Weber: The Making of an Improbable Classic, 3. Weber’s Theory of Meaning, Modernity and the Value-Spheres, 4. Rationalities and Rationalization, 5. The Fracture in Weber's Sociological Thought: The Formation of a Comparative World-Historical Perspective, Part II: Methodology and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 6. Weber's Methodological Writings, 7. Max Weber’s Work and Our Times: The Sociological Significance of Weber’s Methodological Insights, 8. Academic Freedom Between Scientific Objectivity and Cultural Values, 9. Modalities of Value Incommensurability: Associated Reflections, Part III: The Protestant Ethic and the Development of Capitalism, 10. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-05/1920), 11. Weber's Early Writings on Law: Medieval Mercantile Law and Agrarian Structures in Roman Antiquity, 12. The Monastery Door Reopens, 13. ‘Weber’s Thesis’ and the Restoration of Capitalism in Baltic Countries, 14. Capital and the Thrill of Domination, Part IV: Comparative Religion, 15. Max Weber on China and Capitalism, 16. Weber’s Economic Ethos of the World Religions, 17. Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the Other Spheres of Life in Max Weber’s Russia, 18. World Religions, World Attitudes, and Civilizations: Max Weber's Comparative Sociology of Religion and the Analysis of Indian Religiosity, 19. Divine Positive Law: Ancient Judaism and Western Legality, Part V: Economy and Society and Rationalization Processes, 20. Max Weber’s Economic Sociology, 21. The Notion of Formal Rationality in the Writings of Max Weber and Other Foremost Sociologists, 22. Capitalism, Contingency, and Economic Development, 23. Max Weber’s Idea of Social Science in an Age of Formal Rationalization, Part VI: Sociology of Law, 24. Max Weber’s Sociology of Law, Then and Now, 25. Max Weber’s Comparative and Historical Sociology of Law: The Developmental Conditions of Law, 26. A Critical Reading of Max Weber on Law and Its Rationalization, Part VII: Political Sociology, 27. The Fate of Politics: The Vocation of the Political Educator, 28. Weber’s Concept of Traditional Herrschaft Reexamined: Is it Ever Superseded?, 29. Deus ex Machina: The Problem of Legal-Rational Domination, 30. The Politics of Responsibility, Charismatic Communities, and Non-legitimate Domination, 31. Living (Together) with the Consequences of Value Struggle, 32. Max Weber on Parliamentarism and Democracy, 33. Revolution and Revolutionary Subjectivity: Links Between Politics, Ethics, and Violence, 34. Max Weber and the Historical Fate of Liberal-Democracy
Alan Sica is Professor of Sociology and Founder and Director of the Social Thought Program at Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is the author of Book Matters: The Changing Nature of Literacy (Transaction/Routledge, 2016), Max Weber and the New Century (Transaction/ Routledge, 2017), Max Weber: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Routledge, 2017), and Weber, Irrationality, and Social Order (California University Press, 1988; 2018). He is the editor of Ideologies and the Corruption of Thought (Routledge, 1997), What is Social Theory? The Philosophical Debates (Blackwell, 1998), The Unknown Max Weber (Transaction Publishers, 2004), Social Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Present (Pearson/Routledge, 2004), Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences (Four Volumes, SAGE, 2006), Max Weber (Ashgate/Routledge, 2013) and The Anthem Companion to Max Weber (Anthem Press, 2016). He is also co-editor of Hermeneutics: Questions and Prospects (University of Massachusetts Press, 1983) and The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties (University of Chicago Press, 2006) and former editor of the Sociological Theory and Contemporary Sociology journals.
