Max Weber and Postmodern Theory Rationalization Versus Re-enchantment

by Gane, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780333930588
• ISBN10: 0333930584
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book explores thematic parallels between Max Weber's theory of the rationalisation and disenchantment of the modern world, and the critiques of contemporary culture developed by Lyotard, Foucault and Baudrillard. It is suggested that these three theorists, associated with poststructuralism and postmodernism, respond to Weber's account of the rise, nature, and trajectory of modern culture by pursuing highly imaginative and coherent strategies of affirmation and re-enchantment. Examining the work of these three key thinkers in this way casts new light on Weber's sociology of rationalisation and his theory of the crisis of modernity.

Author Biography

Nicholas Gane is Lecturer in Sociology, City University, London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
Reading Weber	4	(6)
Towards the postmodern	10	(3)
PART I - Max Weber's theory and critique of rationalization	13	(68)
Rationalization and disenchantment, I: from the origins of religion to the death of God	15	(13)
Magical religiosity: naturalism, symbolism and beyond	16	(1)
Universal religion: from ancient Judaism to the Protestant ethic	17	(2)
The death of God: towards cultural nihilism	19	(4)
From cultural to societal rationalization: towards bureaucratic domination	23	(3)
Conclusion	26	(2)
Rationalization and disenchantment, II: the differentiation and de-differentiation of modern culture	28	(17)
Rationalization and the differentiation of culture	29	(1)
The 'Intermediate Reflection'	30	(4)
The question of value-incommensurability	34	(7)
Cultural de-differentiation: the tragedy of rationalization	41	(3)
Conclusion	44	(1)
The value of instrumental reason: `Science as a Vocation'	45	(19)
The scientific calling	46	(3)
From Plato to Newton: the historical values of science	49	(2)
Weber, Nietzsche and the 'last men'	51	(4)
Weber and Tolstoy: exhuming the presuppositions of science	55	(4)
The value of practical reason	59	(3)
Conclusion	62	(2)
The ethical irrationality of the world: `Politics as a Vocation'	64	(17)
The ideal-types of political action	65	(4)
Towards a reconciliation of conviction and responsibility	69	(4)
The immediacy of political judgement	73	(3)
Weber and Kant: from autonomy to heteronomy	76	(2)
Conclusion	78	(3)
PART II - Weber and postmodern theory: Lyotard, Foucault and Baudrillard	81	(76)
Intermediate reflection	83	(6)
Weber, Lyotard and the aesthetic sphere	89	(24)
Postmodern science	89	(5)
Cultural differentiation and the collapse of the grand narrative	94	(8)
The later Lyotard	102	(1)
Art, figure and the aesthetic sphere	103	(9)
Conclusion	112	(1)
Weber, Foucault and the political sphere	113	(18)
Foucault's genealogical practice	114	(3)
Foucault's use of genealogy	117	(3)
Cultural science and genealogical history	120	(4)
The political ethics of legislative and interpretive practice	124	(5)
Conclusion	129	(2)
Weber, Baudrillard and the erotic sphere	131	(20)
Symbolic exchange and the law of value	132	(3)
Baudrillard's genealogy of value: the transition to modernity	135	(7)
The erotic sphere and seduction	142	(4)
Possibilities for re-enchantment	146	(3)
Conclusion	149	(2)
Conclusion	151	(6)
Notes	157	(22)
Bibliography	179	(11)
Index	190