Max Weber’s Theory and Practice of German Bürgerlichkeit (original) (raw)

Weber’s ‘Ackerbürgerstadt’ in the Nineteenth Century

Historical Studies on Central Europe

In his treatise “The City”, Max Weber introduced the concept of the Ackerbürgerstadt (agrarian city), a type of city whose economic system is primarily rooted in agricultural production. Since then, Weber’s concept has been frequently applied to historical studies on urban economies, especially in the Middle Ages and early modern history. However, by taking a closer look at the socioeconomic fabric of small towns in the prelude to industrialization, many characteristics of Weber’s Ackerbürgerstadt still seem to be applicable. The paper investigates the development of the economic system of the rural small town of Zwettl, situated in the northwestern part of Lower Austria. Zwettl and its surrounding region were left mostly untouched by economic progress. The city had one of the lowest growth rates in Lower Austria and was excluded from the infrastructural expansions of the industrial period. However, Zwettl did not dwindle into a remnant of pre-industrial times. Changes in the social...

How Well Do We Know Max Weber After All? A New Look at Max Weber and His Anglo-German Family Connections

International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 2003

Guenther Roth's study places Max Weber in an intricate network of ties among members of his lineage. This paper presents core findings of Roth's analysis of Weber's family relations, discusses the validity of Roth's core theses and some of the implications of his analysis for Weber as a person and scholar, and addresses how Roth's book may influence future approaches to Weber's sociology.

A Comment on a Recent Work by Heinz Steinert on Max Weber

2020

The article is a comment on a recent book concerning Weber's Protestant Ethic thesis by Heinz Steinert. After producing a summary of its contents, the article raises a number of objections to Steinert's critical comments, bearing in particular on the clarity, methodological correctness and historical accuracy of the Weber's thesis; and also on the adequacy of the arguments produ- ced by the secondary literature on this thesis. The article concludes by calling into question Steinert's scholarship in a number of fields that are related to it, such as theology, history, and his knowledge and understanding of Weber's own works. Finally, Steinert's contention that there was a bourgeois cultural hegemony in Fin-de-siècle Vienna is shown to be untenable.

The Historicism and Methodology of Max Weber

The late 19 th and early 20 th century saw a notorious battle -the Methodenstreit -that took place between two opposing schools of thought: the theoretical (or Austrian) school and the German historical school. 1 The heated dispute between respective protagonists Carl Menger and Gustav Schmoller created an irreconcilable rift within the academia. Having studied history and political economy at Heidelberg, Max Weber was raised within the tradition of the historical school and counted himself among "the youth of the German historical school." 2 This essay will assess the particularities of Methodenstreit and Weber's contribution to the debate.