Weber's value spheres, functional differentiation, and Zetterberg's Many-Splendored Society

Abstract:Weber's notion of value spheres is famous but underdeveloped as a theory framework. Prominent sociologists have shown that it can be used as a unifying force in functionalist differentiation theory, and as a tool in the analysis of modernity. One of the theorists in this tradition is Hans L. Zetterberg, who throughout his varied career remained attached to the idea of society as composed of six value spheres or institutional realms. His theorizing on basis of this idea is the perhaps most purposeful and systematized, yet largely unnoticed, effort to develop the value spheres into a theory of society. Zetterberg's works in this realm are examined in an attempt to evaluate their relevance and potential, to put them in the proper context of Weberian and functionalist sociology, and to inspire renewed use of the value spheres in sociology.