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Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology

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Most classical theory courses present Marx, Durkheim, and Weber as the founders of sociology. However, many sociologists would feel slighted upon the revelation that neither Marx nor Weber considered themselves to be sociologists for the majority of their intellectual lives. Marx, in fact, never did. Weber, it should be added, only considered himself to be so during the final decade of his life. What is more, Durkheim spent a good deal of his academic career working out the social problems engenderd by a society organized around "organic solidarity." That's enough about how sociology misconstrues its history. Because this fascinating work, by Richard Swedberg, who is clearly not simply a sociologist, but an economic and intellectual historian, accurately reveals the work of Weber and its relationship to sociology and economics.

This book illustrates that the pressing issue for Weber was how do economies work---both theoretically and empirically. And, that a sociological level of analysis was essential for explaining this. The initial chapters are devoted to Weber's economic social action, or the theoretical underpinning of economic sociology (and, I would argue, all of sociology). Thereafter, Swedberg demonstrates how Weber used this conceptual framework to analyze the important, though often absent in sociological and economic research, connections between the economy and politics, the economy and law, and the economy and religion. The book ends with a detailed look at Weber's influence on the the economics profession, and his influence on economic sociology.

The book is beautifully written, and is almost a Reader's Digest to the socio-economics of Max Weber. Swedberg does not cover the corpus of Weber's writings, but focuses narrowly on how his socio-economics is relevant for today's economic sociology. I should add that Swedberg ends by discussing how Weber hoped to unify socio-economics by contributing to economic theory, economic history, and economic sociology. Swedberg believes that Weber contributed to all three. I say two of the three---economic history and economic sociology (insofar as methodology is distinguished from theory). Outside of this sociological quibble, this book is absolutely impeccable!