Max Weber: Selections in Translation [Paperback]

Max Weber (Author), W. G. Runciman (Editor), E. Matthews (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521292689 | ISBN-13: 978-0521292689 | Publication Date: April 28, 1978

In this volume, Mr Runciman has selected extracts, from Max Weber's writings which reflect the full range of his major concerns: the nature of domination in human society, the role of ideas in history, the social determinants of religion, the origin and impact of industrial capitalism and the scope and limits of social science itself. He has also included some shorter extracts from Weber's less familiar writings on such diverse topics as the stock exchange and the history of the piano.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The volume as a whole amply fulfils the editor's intention to produce 'a selection which will, so far as is possible within a single volume, give the English-speaking reader an overall picture of Weber's contribution to the remarkably wide range of topics in the social sciences to which he addressed himself over his career.' Economic Journal

'Mr Runciman's carefully edited selections (fluently, indeed brilliantly, translated by Mr Matthews) offer a most serviceable introduction. The oeuvre of a giant is not easily condensed: but most of these selections go right to the core of what Weber had to say about methodology, about religion, bureaucracy and law, and of his contributions to comparative economic history.' The Observer

'The editor has trusted his own good judgement, including some familiar pieces and some unfamiliar ones, and he has modestly kept his own comments to a minimum. The translator has worked to great effect. And the publisher has produced a very elegant book. The result is a first-class collection, the best of its kind.' New Society

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 28, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521292689
• ISBN-13: 978-0521292689
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pouring out ideas like old bong water, August 17, 2010

By 

Bruce P. Barten (Saint Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Max Weber: Selections in Translation (Paperback)

I keep looking for ideas that could be applied in politics. Max Weber had an emphasis on religion in The Soteriology of the Underprivileged, first published in 1922 and included in these selections just before the chapter on The Religions of Asia. An Indian Vishnuite sect that is primarily poor people who worship a hereditary guru, is stuck up enough to exclude outsiders, probably because the limited amount of salvation can't be bought up by somebody no one knows, like all our old hangouts in America. The American dream has brought millions of people to America with high hopes for something like Max Weber considering that sect, which "took very seriously the dissolution of the caste taboo (which in theory is part of many salvation religions) and established at any rate limited commensality among its members, extending to private life as well as cultic contexts, as a consequence of which it has become primarily a sect of poor people. In this sect, the anthropolatrous veneration of the hereditary guru is promoted to the fullest extent, even to the point of excluding outsiders from the cult." (p. 179).