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This book shows how Max Weber's perceptions of the social and political world he inhabited in Wilhelmine Germany were characterized by a nationalist commitment which coloured practically every aspect of his thought, including his social scientific writings and the formulations they expound. Exploring the consequences of Weber's ardent nationalism in a manner seldom acknowledged in existing scholarship, it considers the alignment of his commitment to liberalism and democracy with his devotion to the ideal of the German people as an ethno-racial community supported by a power-state, with the purpose of realizing the national interest of future generations of Germans. Through an analysis of a range of texts, the author contends that Weber's liberalism is not based on universalistic principles and that Weber considered the liberty he espoused to play an important role in securing the position of a political elite trained in parliamentary institutions, which are used to shape the citizenry in the pursuit of a patriotic commitment to an expansionist, imperial state. It will therefore appeal to scholars with interests in the history of sociology and classical social theory.

This study, first published in 1983, explores the connections between Marx's philosophy and his empirical analysis of society and state, by showing the different meanings of many of Marx's concepts as their role in his theory changes and the theory itself develops. Beginning with an examination of Marx's search for a sound epistemological basis on which to build a social theory, Dr Barbalet then gives an analysis of the way in which Marx continually modifies the concepts he uses, and continues with an examination of the different functions they are given in different theoretical settings. Vari.

Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is one of the best-known and most enduring texts of classical sociology, continually inspirational and widely read by both scholars and students. In an insightful interpretation, Jack Barbalet discloses that Weber's work is not simply about the cultural origins of capitalism but an allegory concerning the Germany of his day. Situating The Protestant Ethic in the development of Weber's prior and subsequent writing, Barbalet traces changes in his understanding of key concepts including 'calling' and 'rationality'. In a close analysis of the ethical underpinnings of the capitalist spirit and of the institutional structure of capitalism, Barbalet identifies continuities between Weber and the eighteenth-century founder of economic science, Adam Smith, as well as Weber's contemporary, the American firebrand Thorstein Veblen. Finally, by considering Weber's investigation of Judaism and capitalism, important aspects of his account of Protestantism and capitalism are revealed

This unique book examines the central roles which emotions such as fear, resentment, shame, and confidence play in social processes. J. M. Barbalet demonstrates the centrality of emotions to everyday social interaction, and, in doing so, re-evaluates the nature and history of social theory itself

The ballot is typically thought to be the least interesting & most unproblematic political institution. Nevertheless, the pervasive assumption that secret voting keeps elections free of corruption & intimidation is erroneous. Through a discussion of the debates & issues surrounding the passage of the Ballot Act of 1872, & of the ballot in general, a new interpretation is developed of the background & consequences of secret voting. It is shown that particular emotions are crucial in support for the ballot, &, more important, that a major impact of the ballot is the production of a characteristic set of emotional patterns that have consequences not just for the act of voting itself, but for the wider structure of the political system & its operations. 42 References. Adapted from the source document.

Max Weber's early studies of agrarian social structure, and especially his inaugural lecture of 1895, are conventionally not considered to be part of his sociological corpus. The inaugural lecture, in particular, is largely ignored by sociologists. It is shown in the present article that the 1895 lecture is in fact an absolutely necessary key to the proper appreciation of Weber's subsequent work. Indeed, a reading of Weber's later writings through the prism of the inaugural lecture provides new, challenging and corrective understandings of Weber's argument and meaning. In a discussion of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Weber's methodological essays, two things are shown. First, that the continuities between the 1895 lecture and the subsequent works are strong and readily demonstrable. Second, that an appreciation of Weber's argument in the inaugural lecture transforms the conventional understandings of the later works.