The Political and Social Theory of Max Weber

Wolfgang J. Mommsen is one of the foremost Weberian scholars writing today. In this volume, a sequel to his monumental study Max Weber and German Politics , he provides succinct and incisive statements on current developments in the analysis of Weber's work.

The book concentrates upon Weber's engagement with political issues and their influence over his more theoretical concepts. Mommsen offers a critical analysis of Weber's notion of democracy and provides a thorough assessment of Weber's views of socialism against the backcloth of German Social Democracy.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

Part I: Politics and Social Theory.

1. Politics and Scholarship: The Two Icons in Max Webers Life.

2. The Antinomical Structure of Max Weber's Political Thought.

3. Max Weber's Theory of Legitimacy Today.

Part II: Max Weber on Socialism and Political Radicalism.

4. Capitalism and Socialism: Weber's Dialogue with Marx.

5. Joining the Underdogs? Weber's Critique of the Social Democrats in Wilhelmine Germany.

6. Roberto Michels and Max Weber: Moral Conviction Versus the Politics of Responsibility.

Part III: The Development of Max Weber's Theoretical Ideas.

7. Max Weber on Bureaucracy and Bureaucratization: Threat to Liberty and Instrument of Creative Action.

8. Ideal Type and Pure Type: Two Variants of Max Weber's Ideal-typical Method.

9. Rationalization and Myth in Weber's Thought.

10. The Two Dimensions of Social Change in Max Weber's Sociological Theory.

Part IV: The Rediscovery of Max Weber.

11. Max Weber in Modern Social Thought.

Notes.

Index.

'This lively, well-written volume is a valuable addition to the literature on Max Weber.' Choice

'As an interpreter of Weber, ... Mommsen is of the first rank and this book makes clear the historical dimensions of Weber's thought, the value commitments which underlay it and Weber's pre-eminent position as a theorist of modernity.' ANZJS

Wolfgang Mommsen is the author of numerous works including Max Weber and German Politics: The Age of Bureaucracy and Max Weber and his Contemporaries. He is also editor of the Max Weber Gesamtausgabe. Wolfgang J. Mommsen is one of the foremost Weberian scholars writing today. In this volume, a sequel to his monumental study Max Weber and German Politics , he provides succinct and incisive statements on current developments in the analysis of Weber's work.

The book concentrates upon Weber's engagement with political issues and their influence over his more theoretical concepts. Mommsen offers a critical analysis of Weber's notion of democracy and provides a thorough assessment of Weber's views of socialism against the backcloth of German Social Democracy.