Weber, Max

Abstract

With Marx and Durkheim, Weber is considered a major classic in political sociology. While his theories of bureaucracy, political charisma, and the protestant ethic and capitalism have become standard material in textbooks, his writings have been lately considerably reevaluated. With the publication of new texts (Max-Weber-Gesamtausgabe) and a growing secondary literature, several scholars have pointed to the fruitfulness of Weber’s interpretive approach to the study of micro-macro linkages with concepts like Lebensführung (the conduct of life), Chance and power share (Machtanteil). These have provided sources of inspiration for political sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu and Randall Collins or others, such as Wilhelm Hennis and Catherine Colliot-Thélène. Another emerging line of inquiry has involved analysis of politics and parliamentarisation as counterforces to growing bureaucratisation, which Weber saw as being one of main drivers of modern world, his perspectivist view on knowledge serving as a medium to control officials and experts.