Elective affinities of the Protestant ethic : Weber and the chemistry of capitalism

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The will to act : an analysis of Max Weber's sociology in the light of Goethe's fiction

Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and vocation essays are interpreted in the light of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Elective Affinities, Wilhelm Meister , and Faust . Drawing on themes which frame the latter's novels, the importance of experience, renunciation, and a specialized vocation which underlie the 'will to act' will be developed. Following this, it will be shown these themes reemerge in Weber's sociology and his conceptualization self-conscious determination. This view argues that Goethe's notion of social action, which required devotion to a vocation which contributed to the growth and vitality of community, was the source of empowerment which framed Weber's sociology and understanding of meaningful social action

The administration of justice : an exegesis of Max Weber's 'sociology of law' with a focus on the English law and judge

This study examines two interconnected and as yet wholly neglected aspects of Max Weber's 'Sociology of Law,' namely, its substantive underpinnings and focal concern with the status of the judge. At the heart of the 'Sociology of Law' is a comparative analysis of the Continental and the English administrations of justice, which can best be understood when read against his substantive sociology and which requires an assiduous reading of the 'Sociology of Law.' Thus the first part of this examination elucidates Weber's overarching concern with the effects of bureaucratization on the development of personality. The second part provides a detailed explication of the 'Sociology of Law' which privileges his treatment of the Common Law and distinguishes the juristic and sociological strands of his analysis, re-examines his notion of formal and substantive rationality, pays close attention to his assessment of the Free Law Movement, and accords due place to his discussion of the anti-formalistic tendencies in modern law. Taken together, these expose the contradictions and assumptions which frame his tendentious analysis and bring to light the vital role he ascribes to the judge