Weber: Political Writings

by Max Weber, Peter Lassman (Editor), Ronald Speirs (Translator)

Max Weber (1864–1920), generally known as a founder of modern social science, was concerned with political affairs throughout his life. The texts in this edition span his career and include his early inaugural lecture The Nation State and Economic Policy, Suffrage and Democracy in Germany, Parliament and Government in Germany under a New Political Order, Socialism, The Profession and Vocation of Politics, and an excerpt from his essay The Situation of Constitutional Democracy in Russia, as well as other shorter writings. Together they illustrate the development of his thinking on the fate of Germany and the nature of politics in the modern western state in an age of cultural 'disenchantment'. The introduction discusses the central themes of Weber's political thought, and a chronology, notes and an annotated bibliography place him in his political and intellectual context.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Sociology, History, Political Science, Nonfiction

426 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

(Arabic: ماكس فيبر)

Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was a German lawyer, politician, historian, sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory and the remit of sociology itself. His major works dealt with the rationalization, bureaucratization and 'disenchantment' associated with the rise of capitalism. Weber was, along with his associate Georg Simmel, a central figure in the establishment of methodological antipositivism; presenting sociology as a non-empirical field which must study social action through resolutely subjective means.

Reviews

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book, I got a feeling similar to the one I get when James B. Stewart (an editor from the New York Times) appears on CNBC and reacts to fluctuations in the prices of whatever stock he happens to be watching. There seems to be a slight sense of distastefulness or even vulgarity in the trivialization of a writer's position when he takes the public stage in this way. In a similar vein, it seems to me that, in writing these essays, the great sociologist Max Weber enters the political arena with a specific purpose in mind, as if his rhetoric could be made to march to the cadence of party-culture. Three stars.

[Max Bodach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weber's pragmatist solutions to deeply transcendent problems are fascinating but i wonder how incomplete they are (and therefore how incomplete modern liberalism is)

[Irine]

pp. 309-369

[Zlatko Dimitrioski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost all of the essays are focused on Germany.

[W. Littlejohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read the last essay, "The Profession and Vocation of Politics"--a penetrating, sophisticated, moving, and masterful treatment of the nature of the modern state and of political life, and of the ethical tensions of political action. It gains still greater significance from the pivotal context in which the lecture was first delivered--Germany in 1919, after the Great War and in the midst of revolution. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the nature of modern politics. (Note: That doesn't mean you should agree with it...you can already catch echoes of Hitler in this text.)

Excerpt from the stunning conclusion: "What lies immediately ahead of us is not the flowering of summer but a polar night of icy darkness and hardness, no matter which group wins the outward victory now. For, where there is nothing, not only has the Kaiser lost his rights but so too has the proletarian. When this night slowly begins to recede, which of those people will still be alive whose early summer seems now to have flowered so profusely? And what will have become of you all inwardly? Embitterment or philistinism, sheer, dull acceptance of the world and of your job--or the third, and not the least common possibility, a mystical flight from the world on the part of those with the gift for it or--a frequent and pernicious variant--on the part of those who force themselves into such an attitude because it is fashionable....
Politics means slow, strong drilling through hard boards, with a combination of passion and a sense of judgement. It is of course entirely correct, and a fact confirmed by all historical experience, that what is possible would never have been achieved if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible. But the person who can do this must be a leader; not only that, he must, in a very simple sense of the word, be a hero. And even those who are neither of these things must, even now, put on the armour of that steadfastness of heart which can withstand even the defeat of all hopes, for otherwise they will not even be capable of achieving what is possible today. Only someone who is certain that he will not be broken when the world, seen from his point of view, is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer it, and who is certain that he will be able to say 'Nevertheless' in spite of everything--only someone lke this has a 'vocation' for politics."

[nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

"i'm so mad >:( our bureaucrats won't stop messing around so a strong political leader can emerge and boss germany into forming a colonial global empire and establishing a genocidal grip on Africa like all the cool countries are doing!" boo fucking hoo, weber.

[Godfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book for ds