Jack Barbalet is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Sydney. He is a leading scholar of classical sociology and social theory and his previous publications include Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach (Cambridge, 2001).

• Introduction; 1. From the inaugural lecture to the Protestant ethic: political education and German futures; 2. From the Protestant ethic to the vocation lectures: Beruf, rationality and emotion; 3. Passions and profits: the emotional origins of capitalism in seventeenth-century England; 4. Protestant virtues and deferred gratification: Max Weber and Adam Smith on the spirit of capitalism; 5. Ideal type, institutional and evolutionary analyses of the origins of capitalism: Max Weber and Thorstein Veblen; 6. The Jewish question: religious doctrine and sociological method; Conclusion.

Review of the hardback: 'Where secondary sources about Max Weber's oeuvre often show too much deference to the old master, Jack Barbalet's re-appraisal of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism refreshingly dissects and contests its core thesis. Not only does Barbalet provide a sophisticated historical contextualisation of this highly influential book and trace its links to Weber's other writings, he also deploys his expertise in the sociology of emotions to mount a serious challenge to Weber's central arguments and to contrast them with those of Adam Smith and Thorstein Veblen. This makes Weber, Passion and Profits a real tour de force, and surely required reading for anyone interested in Max Weber's ideas and in the history of social thought.' Patrick Baert, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge

Jack Barbalet is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Sydney. He is a leading scholar of classical sociology and social theory and his previous publications include Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach (Cambridge, 2001).

• Introduction; 1. From the inaugural lecture to the Protestant ethic: political education and German futures; 2. From the Protestant ethic to the vocation lectures: Beruf, rationality and emotion; 3. Passions and profits: the emotional origins of capitalism in seventeenth-century England; 4. Protestant virtues and deferred gratification: Max Weber and Adam Smith on the spirit of capitalism; 5. Ideal type, institutional and evolutionary analyses of the origins of capitalism: Max Weber and Thorstein Veblen; 6. The Jewish question: religious doctrine and sociological method; Conclusion.

Review of the hardback: 'Where secondary sources about Max Weber's oeuvre often show too much deference to the old master, Jack Barbalet's re-appraisal of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism refreshingly dissects and contests its core thesis. Not only does Barbalet provide a sophisticated historical contextualisation of this highly influential book and trace its links to Weber's other writings, he also deploys his expertise in the sociology of emotions to mount a serious challenge to Weber's central arguments and to contrast them with those of Adam Smith and Thorstein Veblen. This makes Weber, Passion and Profits a real tour de force, and surely required reading for anyone interested in Max Weber's ideas and in the history of social thought.' Patrick Baert, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge

Jack Barbalet is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Sydney. He is a leading scholar of classical sociology and social theory and his previous publications include Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach (Cambridge, 2001).

• Introduction; 1. From the inaugural lecture to the Protestant ethic: political education and German futures; 2. From the Protestant ethic to the vocation lectures: Beruf, rationality and emotion; 3. Passions and profits: the emotional origins of capitalism in seventeenth-century England; 4. Protestant virtues and deferred gratification: Max Weber and Adam Smith on the spirit of capitalism; 5. Ideal type, institutional and evolutionary analyses of the origins of capitalism: Max Weber and Thorstein Veblen; 6. The Jewish question: religious doctrine and sociological method; Conclusion.

Review of the hardback: 'Where secondary sources about Max Weber's oeuvre often show too much deference to the old master, Jack Barbalet's re-appraisal of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism refreshingly dissects and contests its core thesis. Not only does Barbalet provide a sophisticated historical contextualisation of this highly influential book and trace its links to Weber's other writings, he also deploys his expertise in the sociology of emotions to mount a serious challenge to Weber's central arguments and to contrast them with those of Adam Smith and Thorstein Veblen. This makes Weber, Passion and Profits a real tour de force, and surely required reading for anyone interested in Max Weber's ideas and in the history of social thought.' Patrick Baert, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge