Suchergebnisse

Charges that Max Weber is a preeminent classical Orientalist are considered in light of Edward Said's (1978) construction of Orientalism as a discourse of domination. These charges are grounded in three assumptions: (1) Weber viewed the West as superior over the rest of the world. (2) He played down the role of colonialism in stemming the development of the Orient. (3) Weber claimed a unity of religion & culture, which led him to characterize the Orient in misleading ways. It is suggested that these changes could be proven only if it could be shown that the original failure of modernization in the Orient was due to colonialism; but this cannot be proven. Moreover, it is shown that a truly Weberian research program would be more subtle concerning the role of religion than his critics have claimed. Employing a Weberian analysis, it is argued that the contemporary Islamic project will ultimately fail to unify & integrate Islamic countries, because it is incapable of leading the modernization of this region. 37 References. D. M. Ryfe