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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1 Weber and His Legacy -- Weber and Weberian social theory -- The Weber Circle -- Beyond the Weber Circle: founding the social sciences -- Émigré contributions -- The postwar formation of Weberian theory -- 2 Historical and Cultural Analysis -- Religion and economic action -- Asceticism and mysticism, church and sect -- The Protestant ethic debates -- The Protestant ethic and modernity -- The ideal type, understanding and explanation -- Levels of analysis and 'methodological individualism' -- The cultural problems of capitalism -- Lessons for cultural analysis and historical sociology -- 3 The Theory of Social Action -- Rationality and the types of social and economic action -- Interpretation, values and the search for meaning -- The general theory of action -- The theory of communicative action -- Authority, domination, legitimacy -- Charisma and revolution -- Traditional authority and traditionalism -- 4 Orders, Structures, Institutions -- The theory of bureaucracy -- Law and society -- The sociology of the state -- Citizenship, ethnicity, race, nationality -- Democracy and civil society -- 5 Paths to the Modern World -- Rationalization and its significance -- Civilization and discipline -- Escaping the iron cage: multiple modernities? -- Science, disenchantment and re-enchantment -- 6 Weberian Social Theory and the Future -- Weberian social science -- Weber and the Western tradition -- Bibliography -- Index.

Prof. Dr. Lawrence Alvin Scaff ist seit 1998 Professor für Politikwissenschaft an der Wayne State University in Detroit. Zuvor war er an der Pennsylvania State University sowie an der University of Arizona tätig. Scaff studierte an der University of California at Berkeley, wo er 1971 seinen Ph.D. verliehen bekam. Scaff forscht insbesondere zu Themen der politischen Theorie, des politischen Denkens der Moderne sowie der vergleichenden Politikwissenschaft Westeuropas

The American journey. Thoughts about America -- The land of immigrants -- Capitalism -- Science and world culture -- Remnants of romanticism -- The color line -- Different ways of life -- The Protestant ethic -- American modernity -- Interpretation of the experience -- The work in America. The discovery of the author -- The creation of the sacred text -- The invention of the theory

Georg Simmel is known for his 'formal' sociology and discussion of interaction using spatial imagery. Responding to the standard view of Simmel, this article investigates his equally important ideas about time and temporality. In his philosophical and sociological writings Simmel explores the nature of knowledge of the past, mechanistic and organic conceptions of temporality, and the experience and social construction of time-consciousness. The modern money economy encourages a dynamic acceleration and compression of time, while cultural modernity ushers in an 'eternal present'. Simmel's interpretation of time and temporality are central to his thought and contribute to his significance as a social theorist.

One of the most unusual aspects of Max Weber's 1904 journey to the United States was his trip to Oklahoma and Indian Territory. This article reconstructs the origins, rationale, circumstances and results of this experience on the American frontier. Weber used the opportunity to investigate social and economic development, observing the work of the Dawes Commission, the conditions of native American life and the emerging patterns of settlement and their consequences. He discussed these matters with many of the Territory's leading figures, such as Tams Bixby and Robert L. Owen. He viewed the transition from traditional society to modern capitalist economic conditions as inevitable and irreversible. But he also thought processes of sociation, modeled on the voluntaristic sects and supported by a worldly ethos, served as a counterweight and strengthened the fledgling democratic order.

Georg Simmel is known for his 'formal' sociology and discussion of interaction using spatial imagery. Responding to the standard view of Simmel, this article investigates his equally important ideas about time and temporality. In his philosophical and sociological writings Simmel explores the nature of knowledge of the past, mechanistic and organic conceptions of temporality, and the experience and social construction of time-consciousness. The modern money economy encourages a dynamic acceleration and compression of time, while cultural modernity ushers in an 'eternal present'. Simmel's interpretation of time and temporality are central to his thought and contribute to his significance as a social theorist.

Weber and his work functioned in two ways: both as a bridge to the new, to the world of capitalist modernity, as well as a road to an acceptable cosmopolitan 'liberal' historical past. It was Weber the cosmopolitan and outsider who could give legitimacy and weight to the intellectual orientations and problems thought to be significant for the community in exile. It was this Weber who could cushion the 'negative shock' of what was often perceived as America's 'intellectual and cultural provincialism' and establish for the emigre scholar and intellectual the historical task of assisting in the development of American intellectual and cultural life. At the same time, the presence of a different Weber in America, already an established interest of several scholars emerging into prominence, such as Talcott Parsons and Edward Shils, created difficulties as well as opportunities for the emigre scholars. Because of such variety the field for the transmission, reception, and influence of Weber's work must be approached as a complicated, multilayered, and contested patchwork of disparate and sometimes partially overlapping social and professional networks.