Résumés
Abstract
Max Weber considers large-scale comparative study as an extremely delicate and complex endeavour. He insists on a certain number of precautions. According to him transcultural comparisons are definitely possible, but only in a specific and modest way. The present study will first present several major characteristics of sociology that render comparison difficult: we will stress its numerous reservations. We will then examine in which circumscribed manner the large-scale comparisons can be made, on the basis of ideal-types and their limited results.
Résumé
Max Weber considère le comparatisme à grande échelle comme une tâche extrêmement délicate et complexe. Il insiste sur un certain nombre de précautions. En définitive, cependant, les comparaisons transculturelles sont possibles, selon lui, mais seulement d’une manière spécifique et modeste. La présente étude présentera tout d’abord plusieurs caractéristiques majeures de sa sociologie qui rendent la comparaison difficile : on soulignera ses nombreuses réserves. On examinera ensuite de quelle manière circonscrite des comparaisons à grande échelle peuvent être entreprises, sur la base de l’idéal-type, et leurs modestes résultats.
Zusammenfassung
Max Weber betrachtet makroskopische vergleichende Untersuchungen als ein ausgesprochen heikles und komplexes Unternehmen. Er besteht deshalb auf einer Reihe von Vorsichtsmaßnahmen. Auch wenn er transkulturelle Vergleiche für grundsätzlich realisierbar hält, so doch nur in einer spezifischen und eingeschränkten Weise. Der vorliegende Aufsatz führt zunächst einige Besonderheiten soziologischer Forschung an, die vergleichende Untersuchungen erschweren. Im Anschluss daran wird der begrenzte Sinn skizziert, in dem makroskopische vergleichende Untersuchungen möglich sind, und zwar auf der Basis von Idealtypen und deren begrenzten Aussagekraft.
Parties annexes
References
- Albrow, Martin, Max Weber’s Construction of Social Theory, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990
- Burger, Thomas, Max Weber’s Theory of Concept Formation, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1976
- Kalberg, Stephen, “Max Weber’s Analysis of the Rise of Monotheism”, The British Journal of Sociology 45 (1994), pp. 563-84
- Kalberg, Stephen, Max Weber’s Comparative-Historical Sociology, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994
- Kalberg, Stephen, “Tocqueville and Weber on the Sociological Origins of Citizenship: The Political Culture of American Democracy”, Citizenship Studies 1 (1997), pp. 199-222
- Kalberg, Stephen, “Weber’s Critique of Recent Comparative-Historical Sociology and a Reconstruction of His Analysis of the Rise of Confucianism in China”, in Current Perspectives in Social Theory, edited by Jennifer Lehmann, Stamford, CT: JAI Press, 1999, pp. 207-46
- Kalberg, Stephen, “The Modern World as a Monolithic Iron Cage? Utilizing Max Weber to Define the Internal Dynamics of American Political Culture Today” Max Weber Studies 1, 2 (2001), pp. 178-94
- Kalberg, Stephen, “Should the ‘Dynamic Autonomy’ of Ideas Matter to Sociologists? Max Weber on the Origin of Other-Worldly Salvation Religions and the Constitution of Groups in American Society Today”, Journal of Classical Sociology 1, 3 (2001), pp. 291-328
- Kalberg, Stephen, “The Influence of Political Culture upon Cross-Cultural Misperceptions and Foreign Policy: The United States and Germany”, German Politics and Society 21, 3 (2003), pp. 1-23
- Kalberg, Stephen, “Max Weber”, in The Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists, edited by George Ritzer, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003, pp. 132-93
- Parsons, Talcott, Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966
- Parsons, Talcott, The Evolution of Societies, ed. and with an introduction by Jackson Toby, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971
- Roth, Guenther, “Sociological Typology and Historical Explanation”, in Reinhard Bendix and Roth, Scholarship and Partisanship, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971, pp. 109-28
- Roth, Guenther, “Max Weber’s Comparative Approach and Historical Typology”, in Comparative Methods in Sociology, ed. by Ivan Vallier, Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1971, pp. 75-93
- Weber, Max, “Vorwort“ [Introduction], in Grundriss der Sozialoekonomik, 1. Abt.: Wirtschaft und Wirtschaftswissenschaft, ed. by K. Buecher, J. Schumpeter, and Fr. Freiherr von Wieser, Tübingen: Mohr, 1914, pp. vii-ix
- Weber, Max, “The Meaning of ‘Ethical Neutrality’ in Sociology and Economics”, in The Methodology of the Social Sciences, edited and translated by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch, New York: The Free Press, 1949, pp. 1-49
- Weber, Max, 1949b. “‘Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy”, in The Methodology of the Social Sciences, edited and translated by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch, New York: The Free Press, pp. 50-112
- Weber, Max, The Religion of China, edited and translated by Hans H. Gerth, New York: The Free Press, 1951
- Weber, Max, Ancient Judaism, edited and translated by Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale, New York: The Free Press, 1952
- Weber, Max, The Religion of India, edited and translated by Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale, New York: The Free Press, 1958
- Weber, Max, Economy and Society, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, New York: Bedminster Press, 1968
- Weber, Max, Roscher and Knies, translated and with an introduction by Guy Oakes, New York: The Free Press, 1975
- Weber, Max, The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations, translated by R. I. Frank., London: NLB, 1976
- Weber, Max, Max Weber: Selections in Translation, edited by W. G. Runciman and translated by Eric Matthews, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978
- Weber, Max, Readings and Commentary on Modernity, edited by Stephen Kalberg, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005
- Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism with Other Writings on the Rise of the West, introduced and translated by Stephen Kalberg, New York/Oxford, 2009 (forthcoming)