Why Should We Still Read Max Weber? (Classical and Contemporary Social Theory)

This fresh study of Max Weber demonstrates the ongoing strength and importance of Weber’s understanding of our social existence.

Original in its interpretation, Why Should We Still Read Max Weber? serves as a clear, accessible introduction to the social theory of one of the towering intellects of our age. The author guides the reader across the incomparable range of Weber’s analysis of modernity – through impersonal capitalism, the bureaucratic state, the disenchanted universe of science and then onto the potentially ecstatic experiences of art and erotic love. All the while Weber’s acute awareness of the complex place of religion is on display.

Undergraduate students in sociology, social theory and philosophy will find this book directly useful in their studies, but it also serves as an entry point into Weber’s theory for any reader with an interest in what intellectual reason has to offer on the social world around them.

Michael Symonds is an Adjunct Fellow in the School of Arts, Western Sydney University, Australia. He is the author of Max Weber’s Theory of Modernity, The Appeal of Art in Modernity and A Weberian Perspective on Home, Nature and Sport.