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The historian Wolfgang Mommsen was one of the foremost experts on Max Weber as well as an insightful and accessible interpreter of his work. Mommsen's classic book, first published in 1974 under the title The Age of Bureaucracy, not only concisely explains the basic concepts underlying Weber's worldview, but also explores the historical, social, and intellectual contexts in which he operated, including Weber's development as an academic, his relationship to German nationalism, and his engagement with Marxism. Supplemented with a new foreword, a bibliography that includes recent studies, and a postscript by Volker Berghahn that surveys the most important debates on Weber's work since his death, this short volume serves as an excellent resource for scholars and students alike.
List of contents
Foreword
Volker R. Berghahn Preface to the First Edition
List of Abbreviations
Introduction Chapter 1. The Universal Historian and the Social Scientist
Chapter 2. The Champion of Nationalist Power Politics and Imperialism
Chapter 3. The Alternative to Marx: Dynamic Capitalism instead of Bureaucratic Socialism
Chapter 4. The Theory of the 'Three Pure Types of Legitimate Domination' and the Concept of Plebiscitarian Democracy
Chapter 5. A Liberal in Despair
Postcript
Volker R. Berghahn Select Bibliography
About the author
Wolfgang J. Mommsen (1930–2004) was Professor of History at the University of Düsseldorf and long-term Director of the German Historical Institute, London.
Summary
In this new edition of Wolfgang Mommsen’s illuminating study, Max Weber is presented in terms of the major questions that preoccupied him as one of the towering social scientists of his time, with insights that are persistently relevant as we deal with the structures and dynamics of modern industrial societies.
