Pub Date : 2022-03-16DOI: 10.1177/1468795x221083684
J. Barbalet
Weber rejected the notion of race founded on innate characteristics, and instead developed one based on cultural and political factors. The importance of Weber’s distinctive characterization of race cannot be appreciated when consideration is given only to his treatment of minorities. Examination, however, of Weber’s account of the German people as a Herrenvolk, master race, consolidated by shared cultural values and realized through the expansive practices of a Machtstaat or power-state, indicates a complex ethnonational conceptualization of race. Weber’s approach to race as an ethnonational manifestation is important for understanding his sociology as well as his commitment to German imperialism.
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Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/1468795X221080770
Sebastian Raza
This paper seeks to make two distinctive sets of contributions through a supplementary reinterpretation of Max Weber in the light of Charles Taylor’s expressivist-hermeneutical theory of human agency. First, it offers a reinterpretation of Weber’s work. Focussing on the concept of stance, the paper highlights that Weber’s theorising on values and their relation to cognition, action and identity is less underpinned by subjectivism, representationalism, emotivism and decisionism than is typically thought. Instead, Weber sets values within a non-naturalist dimension where agents find their bearings and are constituted as such. In this dimension, orientation to meaning takes place; identity, action and thought are constituted; and normative experiences (such as freedom, or responsibility) are made possible. Weber recognised that this non-naturalist dimension has variegated modes, but seemingly studied them in their purest and most logical form (the ‘ideal type’), hence his focus on explicit belief systems and world-images. Second, there is a prospective supplementation of Weber’s theory through Taylor’s notion of expression. For Taylor, we take a stance and orient ourselves expressively through the domain of strongly valued meanings. The notions of strong evaluation and articulation prove central to understanding embodied, symbolic and representational meaning-orientation in the non-naturalist dimensions of values. This supplementary reading places Weber as a central figure in current American, British and French debates about, respectively, the normative nature of human agency; the question of culture, meaning and their different forms and modes of operation; and the question of how to examine identity-formation.
{"title":"Max Weber and Charles Taylor: On normative aspects of a theory of human action","authors":"Sebastian Raza","doi":"10.1177/1468795X221080770","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X221080770","url":null,"abstract":"This paper seeks to make two distinctive sets of contributions through a supplementary reinterpretation of Max Weber in the light of Charles Taylor’s expressivist-hermeneutical theory of human agency. First, it offers a reinterpretation of Weber’s work. Focussing on the concept of stance, the paper highlights that Weber’s theorising on values and their relation to cognition, action and identity is less underpinned by subjectivism, representationalism, emotivism and decisionism than is typically thought. Instead, Weber sets values within a non-naturalist dimension where agents find their bearings and are constituted as such. In this dimension, orientation to meaning takes place; identity, action and thought are constituted; and normative experiences (such as freedom, or responsibility) are made possible. Weber recognised that this non-naturalist dimension has variegated modes, but seemingly studied them in their purest and most logical form (the ‘ideal type’), hence his focus on explicit belief systems and world-images. Second, there is a prospective supplementation of Weber’s theory through Taylor’s notion of expression. For Taylor, we take a stance and orient ourselves expressively through the domain of strongly valued meanings. The notions of strong evaluation and articulation prove central to understanding embodied, symbolic and representational meaning-orientation in the non-naturalist dimensions of values. This supplementary reading places Weber as a central figure in current American, British and French debates about, respectively, the normative nature of human agency; the question of culture, meaning and their different forms and modes of operation; and the question of how to examine identity-formation.","PeriodicalId":44864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Classical Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46416279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-21DOI: 10.1177/1468795X221080547
Alan Scott
With most jointly authored books the process of hammering out an agreement between the co-authors is intransparent, except perhaps to the attentive reader who might notice breaks in style or inconsistencies in the argument. Reckwitz and Rosa have chosen a different, and novel, approach: they each offer texts under their own name. The reader is not entirely left to their own devices in spotting the similarities and differences between the two authors as these are thematized in a discussion at the end – a further innovation – in which they are interviewed by the philosopher Martin Bauer. Two books, as it were, for the price of one. The basic motivation for this joint effort is set out in the Introduction. The authors note a problem of supply and demand. On the one hand, particularly since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, there has been a demand, including among a wider public, for accounts that offer the big picture, a ‘view of the whole’ (p. 19). On the other hand, sociology has failed to meet this demand. In its absence, other disciplines have stepped in – for example, the best-selling work of economist Thomas Piketty. Since sociology in general, and social theory in particular, are uniquely placed to meet this demand, they have been failing in their duty. This failure is ascribed to two causes: (i) The pressures stemming from New Public Management (NPM) for the social sciences to emulate the natural sciences in which the gold standard is publication in A-rated peer-reviewed journals, devaluing the worth of books (a common complaint in the humanities in the German-speaking world); (ii) the lasting effects of the postmodern critique of grand narratives, which ‘plays into the hands’ of NPM (p. 18). This results in the marginalization of social theory, which in turn exacerbates the fragmentation of sociology as a discipline; the proliferation of ‘hyphenated sociologies’ (i.e. sociologies of x, y or z) (p. 17). It is this shortcoming that the authors seek to rectify. The first word goes to Andreas Reckwitz. He starts with a defence of social theory as an ‘ensemble of practices’ (p. 25) and then draws a distinction between sociological theory – that is Merton’s middle-range theory in which sociology is seen as a science of the real and theory’s role is to feed it with empirically testable hypotheses – and social theory (given in English). The latter he further breaks down into Sozialtheorie – that is a context-transcending ‘social ontology’ (e.g. the examination of the nature of the social) 1080547 JCS0010.1177/1468795X221080547Journal of Classical SociologyBook Review book-review2022
{"title":"Book Review: Spätmoderne in der Krise. Was leistet die Gesellschaftstheorie?","authors":"Alan Scott","doi":"10.1177/1468795X221080547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X221080547","url":null,"abstract":"With most jointly authored books the process of hammering out an agreement between the co-authors is intransparent, except perhaps to the attentive reader who might notice breaks in style or inconsistencies in the argument. Reckwitz and Rosa have chosen a different, and novel, approach: they each offer texts under their own name. The reader is not entirely left to their own devices in spotting the similarities and differences between the two authors as these are thematized in a discussion at the end – a further innovation – in which they are interviewed by the philosopher Martin Bauer. Two books, as it were, for the price of one. The basic motivation for this joint effort is set out in the Introduction. The authors note a problem of supply and demand. On the one hand, particularly since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, there has been a demand, including among a wider public, for accounts that offer the big picture, a ‘view of the whole’ (p. 19). On the other hand, sociology has failed to meet this demand. In its absence, other disciplines have stepped in – for example, the best-selling work of economist Thomas Piketty. Since sociology in general, and social theory in particular, are uniquely placed to meet this demand, they have been failing in their duty. This failure is ascribed to two causes: (i) The pressures stemming from New Public Management (NPM) for the social sciences to emulate the natural sciences in which the gold standard is publication in A-rated peer-reviewed journals, devaluing the worth of books (a common complaint in the humanities in the German-speaking world); (ii) the lasting effects of the postmodern critique of grand narratives, which ‘plays into the hands’ of NPM (p. 18). This results in the marginalization of social theory, which in turn exacerbates the fragmentation of sociology as a discipline; the proliferation of ‘hyphenated sociologies’ (i.e. sociologies of x, y or z) (p. 17). It is this shortcoming that the authors seek to rectify. The first word goes to Andreas Reckwitz. He starts with a defence of social theory as an ‘ensemble of practices’ (p. 25) and then draws a distinction between sociological theory – that is Merton’s middle-range theory in which sociology is seen as a science of the real and theory’s role is to feed it with empirically testable hypotheses – and social theory (given in English). The latter he further breaks down into Sozialtheorie – that is a context-transcending ‘social ontology’ (e.g. the examination of the nature of the social) 1080547 JCS0010.1177/1468795X221080547Journal of Classical SociologyBook Review book-review2022","PeriodicalId":44864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Classical Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48600649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-22DOI: 10.1177/1468795x211073300
B. Turner
{"title":"Book Review: A Joyfully Serious Man. The Life of Robert Bellah","authors":"B. Turner","doi":"10.1177/1468795x211073300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795x211073300","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Classical Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43212590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-10DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211067453
S. Whimster
In May 1904 Max Weber published a short article in the Frankfurter Zeitung. It has gone unnoticed in the extensive Weber literature and it appears here in English translation for the first time. It is an important statement of Weber’s political views after his withdrawal from his active political engagement in the 1890s. He defends the Reich Constitution from attack and a possible coup d’état. He demands that the German Parliament (Reichstag) stand up to autocratic plans, closely linked to Emperor William II, to suppress democracy and voting rights. A constitutional conflict would require not a great statesman but an ‘unscrupulous idiot or a political adventurer’ who would undermine ‘all our institutions and the security of law for many generations’. The article marks the start (earlier than previously assumed in the literature) of Weber’s consistent championing of Parliament and democratic institutions.
1904年5月，马克斯·韦伯在《法兰克福报》上发表了一篇短文。它在韦伯的大量文献中被忽视了这是它第一次出现在英文译本中。这是韦伯在19世纪90年代退出积极的政治活动后对其政治观点的重要陈述。他捍卫帝国宪法免受攻击和可能的政变。他要求德国议会(Reichstag)抵制与皇帝威廉二世(Emperor William II)密切相关的专制计划，压制民主和投票权。一场宪法冲突需要的不是一个伟大的政治家，而是一个“肆无忌惮的白痴或政治冒险家”，他会破坏“我们所有的制度和法律保障，并影响许多代人”。这篇文章标志着韦伯一贯拥护议会和民主制度的开始(比之前文献中所假设的要早)。
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Pub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211068999
S. Pratten
Alfred Marshall is often depicted as a pioneer of neoclassical economics almost as if this is a label he embraces and promotes. Yet neoclassical economics is not a category Marshall deploys but a term Thorstein Veblen introduces in characterising Marshall. Veblen coins the term neoclassical to identify an ontological discrepancy in the work of a specific group of his contemporaries, a prominent figure among whom is Marshall. Veblen’s view is that Marshall and other neoclassicals discern features of social reality that suggest a tentative recognition of a causal processual social ontology of the type Veblen associates with modern evolutionary approaches and yet also remain staunchly committed to a taxonomic conception of science underpinned by a quite different set of ontological presuppositions. Veblen’s assessment of Marshall is brief and assertive. In this paper it is argued that the ontological discrepancy interpretation of Marshall, that Veblen first sketched, can convincingly be filled out, has substantial merit and is of importance in developing an adequate appreciation of Marshall.
{"title":"Veblen, Marshall and neoclassical economics","authors":"S. Pratten","doi":"10.1177/1468795X211068999","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X211068999","url":null,"abstract":"Alfred Marshall is often depicted as a pioneer of neoclassical economics almost as if this is a label he embraces and promotes. Yet neoclassical economics is not a category Marshall deploys but a term Thorstein Veblen introduces in characterising Marshall. Veblen coins the term neoclassical to identify an ontological discrepancy in the work of a specific group of his contemporaries, a prominent figure among whom is Marshall. Veblen’s view is that Marshall and other neoclassicals discern features of social reality that suggest a tentative recognition of a causal processual social ontology of the type Veblen associates with modern evolutionary approaches and yet also remain staunchly committed to a taxonomic conception of science underpinned by a quite different set of ontological presuppositions. Veblen’s assessment of Marshall is brief and assertive. In this paper it is argued that the ontological discrepancy interpretation of Marshall, that Veblen first sketched, can convincingly be filled out, has substantial merit and is of importance in developing an adequate appreciation of Marshall.","PeriodicalId":44864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Classical Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41901885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-23DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211048800
Thomas Kemple
Rather than refuting or challenging the claims by Baert, Morgan, and Ushiyama to originality, the objective of this commentary is to flesh out “existence theory” by extending its repertoire of examples and by expanding on its classical and philosophical sources. Drawing on precedents in canonical statements by Vico, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, and Marx, this response poses questions about the model’s implied assumption of a time-line that traces a “straight” path from the past to the present and future by invoking the alternative imagery of a circular history, cyclical time, or “queer” life course. To support this argument, contemporary queer theories are invoked to supplement the concept-metaphor of “existential milestones” with that of “existential cornerstones,” which do not always suggest that human development follows a single path or a binding timeline. The civil institutions of religion, marriage, and burial, as discussed by both classical sociologists and queer theorists, for instance, may be defined by a sense of necessity and inevitability but also by contingency and coincidence.
{"title":"Milestones and cornerstones: Queering the life course","authors":"Thomas Kemple","doi":"10.1177/1468795X211048800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X211048800","url":null,"abstract":"Rather than refuting or challenging the claims by Baert, Morgan, and Ushiyama to originality, the objective of this commentary is to flesh out “existence theory” by extending its repertoire of examples and by expanding on its classical and philosophical sources. Drawing on precedents in canonical statements by Vico, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, and Marx, this response poses questions about the model’s implied assumption of a time-line that traces a “straight” path from the past to the present and future by invoking the alternative imagery of a circular history, cyclical time, or “queer” life course. To support this argument, contemporary queer theories are invoked to supplement the concept-metaphor of “existential milestones” with that of “existential cornerstones,” which do not always suggest that human development follows a single path or a binding timeline. The civil institutions of religion, marriage, and burial, as discussed by both classical sociologists and queer theorists, for instance, may be defined by a sense of necessity and inevitability but also by contingency and coincidence.","PeriodicalId":44864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Classical Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42571661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-23DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211049240
W. Outhwaite
This short critical commentary on the article raises some questions about the authors’ model of temporality and the linear conception of ‘milestones’, while endorsing this conception in cases where people feel deprived of something they might have expected to obtain.
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Pub Date : 2021-12-23DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211049303
B. Turner
‘Existence theory’ is a bold and imaginative contribution to social theory. Baert, Morgan and Ushiyama (hereafter ‘the authors’) draw on a broad range of existing approaches from Heidegger to Schutz to build a social theory that draws attention to time, the stages of life and the unavoidably precarious nature of human existence. At the same time, they pay careful attention to the social context in which time and existential precariousness combine to form what they call ‘the existential ladder’. Our lives are to some degree measured by the ‘existential milestones’ that we confront over time. These are not invariable stages, but they traditionally included entry into the work force, courtship and marriage, parenthood and maturity, and old age and death. There are in addition norms that attend these transitions. For example, procreation and parenthood are not for the elderly. Old fathers with young children are regarded as foolish if not reprehensible. Failure to pass through the milestones at the appropriate time may result in disappointments, stress and unhappiness.
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Pub Date : 2021-12-23DOI: 10.1177/1468795X211056080
P. Baert, Marcus Morgan, Rin Ushiyama
In this essay, we provide a comprehensive reply to the critical commentaries by David Inglis, Thomas Kemple, William Outhwaite, Simon Susen, Bryan S. Turner, and Robin Wagner-Pacifici. Our reply is structured along three main pillars. Firstly, we clarify what we aim to achieve with existence theory. Drawing on neo-pragmatist philosophy, our aim is to present a new and useful perspective on a wide range of social phenomena; we do not attempt to tackle or resolve broad philosophical issues. Secondly, we demonstrate that we do not subscribe to an algorithmic notion of society which posits that people’s trajectories have to fit a neat, linear pathway. Related, we do not wish to impose a normative model that endorses the existential milestones that are dominant in any particular society. Thirdly, building on various helpful pointers from our critics, we elaborate on various ways in which the theory could be enriched and further developed: for instance, by bringing in insights from the sociology of generations, critical theory, and sociological studies of the body.
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