Max Weber's sociology: from 'The protestant ethic thesis' and the American political culture to a sociology of civilizations

"This volume outlines Max Weber's comparative-historical sociology of 'interpretive understanding' (verstehen) in a manner that clarifies his complex mode of analysis and multicausal focus. Presenting the central features of his methodology, it offers a series of chapters that demonstrate the analytic strengths of his research strategies through discussions of his major works and overarching concerns, including the origins of the American political culture and the longevity of its civic sphere as well as the multiple causes behind the unique historical pathways taken by great civilizations. Indeed, through a summary of Weber's causal procedures and their application by reference to his own empirical studies, Max Weber's Sociology maintains an orientation to both his 'big picture' themes and his rigorous manner of analysis. In so doing, it demonstrates 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, political and economic cultures in general, the West's uniqueness, "the Protestant ethic thesis," sociological theory, the multiple ways that civilizations arise and develop, and the diverse twists and turns of Weber's comparative-historical sociology"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Toward a rigorous mode of civilizational analysis -- A firm foundation: reconstructing Max Weber -- A systematic mode of analysis -- An overview -- PART I: Weber's major themes and the foundational features of his methodology -- Introduction -- 1 Five civilizations themes -- The formation of subjective meaning and the causes behind its variation -- The uniqueness of Western rationalism and modern Western rationalism -- The causal impact of values and the rationalization of action: the variation across civilizations -- Civilizational rationalisms and world views -- Conflict and social change: stagnation and dynamism -- 2 The methodology: foundational features and the mode of analysis -- The four types of social action and the pluralism of motives -- Value-freedom and value-relevance -- The ideal type and the opposition to organic holism -- Weber's multi-causality: from The Protestant Ethic to the economic ethics of the world religions and Economy and Society -- Economy and Society: the centrality of societal domains -- Ideal types, societal domains, embeddedness, and the multi-causal analysis of social change -- The goal of Weber's "methodological individualism": the causal explanation of cases -- PART II: The conceptual framework I: the rationalization of social action models and the development models -- Introduction -- 3 The rationalization of social action models: the overarching civilizations theme -- The four types of rationality: practical, theoretical, substantive, and formal -- The rationalization of social action -- Ethical substantive rationality: the subjugation of the practical-rational organization of life -- The rationalization of social action and the rationality models.

"This book investigates civilizations through the works of Max Weber. Articulating his sociology in a manner that provides clear guidelines for the systematic investigation of civilizations, the volume focuses upon his 'big picture' themes: his comparative-historical methodology and his causal explanations for the singular sources, contours, and trajectories of civilizations. Through detailed interpretations of Weber's wide-scope and configurational analysis of the West's unique development from Antiquity to the Modern era, his forceful comparisons to the discrete pathways taken by China and India, and his careful demarcation of the 'particular rationalism' of several civilizations, the author examines Weber's stark opposition to organic holism, mono-causal procedures, and structural presuppositions. As such, this study masterfully conveys his contextual and multi-causal mode of analysis rooted in a tight interweaving of the present with the past. Weber's research strategies also emphasize both the 'subjective meanings' of actors East and West and the deep cultural and long-range origins of their salient groups. In this way, social scientists pursuing a cross-civilizational agenda will be able to discover Weberian 'interpretive understanding' procedures for empirical investigations. Max Weber's Sociology of Civilizations: A Reconstruction will contribute decisively and significantly to the now-essential field of civilizational analysis, and will appeal to comparative sociologists and historians, as well as to social theorists of all persuasions"--

"This book investigates civilizations through the works of Max Weber. Articulating his sociology in a manner that provides clear guidelines for the systematic investigation of civilizations, the volume focuses upon his 'big picture' themes: his comparative-historical methodology and his causal explanations for the singular sources, contours, and trajectories of civilizations. Through detailed interpretations of Weber's wide-scope and configurational analysis of the West's unique development from Antiquity to the Modern era, his forceful comparisons to the discrete pathways taken by China and India, and his careful demarcation of the 'particular rationalism' of several civilizations, the author examines Weber's stark opposition to organic holism, mono-causal procedures, and structural presuppositions. As such, this study masterfully conveys his contextual and multi-causal mode of analysis rooted in a tight interweaving of the present with the past. Weber's research strategies also emphasize both the 'subjective meanings' of actors East and West and the deep cultural and long-range origins of their salient groups. In this way, social scientists pursuing a cross-civilizational agenda will be able to discover Weberian 'interpretive understanding' procedures for empirical investigations. Max Weber's Sociology of Civilizations: A Reconstruction will contribute decisively and significantly to the now-essential field of civilizational analysis, and will appeal to comparative sociologists and historians, as well as to social theorists of all persuasions"--