Max Weber

Peter Lassman is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. He is Co-Editor of the European Journal of Political Theory, and is also the editor of a book on Max Weber's political writings. His main interests are the history of political and social thought and modern political philosophy.

• Contents: Introduction. Max Weber: Central Themes: The problem of thematic unity in the work of Max Weber, Friedrich Tenbruck; Max Weber's 'central question', Wilhelm Hennis; Leo Strauss's confrontation with Max Weber: a search for genuine social science, Nasser Behnegar; Industrialization and capitalism, Herbert Marcuse; Max Weber: legitimation, method, and the politics of theory, Sheldon S. Wolin. Problems of Method: The problem of reference in Max Weber's theory of causal explanation, Gerhard Wagner and Heinz Zipprian; Weber on action, Stephen P. Turner Max Weber's idea of 'Puritanism': a case study in the empirical construction of the Protestant work ethic, P. Ghosh; Weber's The Protestant Ethic as hypothetical narrative of original accumulation, Peter Breiner; The meaning of 'wertfreiheit': on the background and motives of Max Weber's 'Postulate', Wilhelm Hennis. Meaning and Value: Methodological ambivalence: the case of Max Weber, Guy Oakes; Bad conscience for a Nietzschean age: Weber's calling for science, Robert Eden; What have we to do with morals? Nietzsche and Weber on history and ethics, Tracy B. Strong; Max Weber's reconceptualization of freedom, Kari Palonen; Max Weber on value rationality and value spheres, Guy Oakes); The incongruity between destiny and merit: Max Weber on meaningful existence and modernity, Gershon Shafir. Liberalism, Nationalism and Democracy: Max Weber's politics and political education, Lawrence A. Scaff; Doing without liberalism: Weber's regime politics, Robert Eden; The antinomian structure of Max Weber's political thought, Wolfgang J. Mommsen; Max Weber's liberalism for a Nietzschean world, Mark Warren; Max Weber and the liberal political tradition, David Beethem; Was Max Weber a 'nationalist'? a study in the rhetoric of conceptual change, Kari Palonen; Max Weber's liberal nationalism, Sung Ho Kim. Politics in a Disenchanted World: Max Weber: integrity, disenchantment, and the illusion of politics, Dana R. Villa; The political logic of economics and the economic logic of modernity in Max Weber, Peter Breiner; Max Weber and the rights of citizens, Duncan Kelly; Max Weber's missing definition of 'political action' and his 'basic sociological concepts': simultaneously a commentary on some aspects of Kari Palonen's writings on Max Weber, Michael Th. Greven; Index.

'...provides a useful handbook of some scholarly issues of contention in the interpretation of his [Weber's} work...As a supplement to reading Weber himself this volume will be an important resource...a fine volume.' Heythrop Journal