Berkley Center

Starting from the premise that much of the popular interpretation and analysis of Max Weber's work is flawed and dismissive of context, in this book chapter Casanova undertakes a literature review to critique the usual assumptions about the Weberian canon. Chief among these is that Economics and Society is Weber's "major" work, which, Casanova says, imposes a limited and often fragmentary interpretation of Weber's thought on those who begin with that assumption. After dealing with various authors' treatments of Weber, Casanova puts forth his own analysis as a way "toward a comprehensive interpretation" of his subject. This theory posits "rationalization as the unifying theory in Weber's work" and re-analyzes Weber through that lens to create a new and better-contextualized understanding of the famous sociologist's work. This essay was published in Max Weber's Political Sociology: A Pessimistic Vision in a Rationalized World (edited by Ronald Glassman and Vatro Murvar).