Oxford Handbook of Max Weber

Active at the time when the social sciences were founded, Max Weber's social theory contributed significantly to a wide range of fields and disciplines. Considering his prominence, it makes sense to take stock of the Weberian heritage and to explore the ways in which Weber's work and ideas have contributed to our understanding of the modern world. Using his work as a point of departure, The Oxford Handbook of Max Weber investigates the Weberian legacy today, identifying the enduring problems and themes associated with his thought that have contemporary significance: the nature of modern capitalism, neo-liberal global economic policy, nationalism, religion and secularization, threats to legality, the culture of modernity, bureaucratic rule and leadership, politics and ethics, the value of science, power and inequality. These problems are global in scope, and the Weberian approach has been used to address them in very different societies. Thus, the Handbook also features chapters on Europe, Turkey, Islam, Judaism, China, India, and international politics. The Handbook emphasizes the use and application of Weber's ideas. It offers a journey through the intellectual terrain that scholars continue to explore using the tools and perspectives of Weberian analysis. The essays explore how Weber's concepts, hypotheses, and perspectives have been applied in practice, and how they can be applied in the future in social inquiry, not only in Europe and North America, but globally. The volume is divided into six parts exploring, in turn: Capitalism in a Globalized World, Society and Social Structure, Politics and the State, Religion, Culture, and Science and Knowledge.

Edith Hanke is managing editor of the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich. She worked on Leo Tolstoy and his significance for German cultural debate c. 1900. She edited Max Weber's "Sociology of Domination" for the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe (I/22-4 and I/23) and is currently engaged in research on Max Weber's worldwide proliferation and reception.

Lawrence A. Scaff is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Wayne State University, Detroit. He is the author of Fleeing the Iron Cage (University of California Press, 1989), Max Weber in America (Princeton University Press, 2011; German translation Duncker & Humblot, 2013), and Weber and the Weberians (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

Sam Whimster is Professor Emeritus of Sociology in the Global Policy Institute, London, and is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences. He is the editor of the journal Max Weber Studies and the author of Understanding Weber (Routledge, 2007; Portuguese translation 2007). He edited, with Hans Henrik Bruun, Max Weber's Collected Methodological Writings (Routledge, 2012). He is co-author of Federal Central Banks (Forum Press, 2018).