Max Weber and Postmodern Theory
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Max Weber and Postmodern Theory: Rationalization versus Re-enchantment Nicholas Gane
Nicholas Gane 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-93058-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-4039-4116-9 DOI 10.1057/9780230502512 ISBN 978-0-230-50251-2 (ebook) This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gane, Nicholas, 1971 Max Weber and postmodern theory: rationalisation versus re-enchantment/nicholas Gane. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Weber, Max, 1864 1920. 2. Postmodernism Social aspects. 3. Culture. 4. Civilization, Modern. I. Title. HM449.G36 2002 306 dc21 2001056111 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
For M. J. G.
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Contents Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction 1 Reading Weber 4 Towards the postmodern 10 PART I Max Weber s theory and critique of rationalization 13 2 Rationalization and disenchantment, I: from the origins of religion to the death of God 15 Magical religiosity: naturalism, symbolism and beyond 16 Universal religion: from ancient Judaism to the Protestant ethic 17 The death of God: towards cultural nihilism 19 From cultural to societal rationalization: towards bureaucratic domination 23 Conclusion 26 3 Rationalization and disenchantment, II: the differentiation and de-differentiation of modern culture 28 Rationalization and the differentiation of culture 29 The Intermediate Reflection 30 The question of value-incommensurability 34 Cultural de-differentiation: the tragedy of rationalization 41 Conclusion 44 4 The value of instrumental reason: Science as a Vocation 45 The scientific calling 46 From Plato to Newton: the historical values of science 49 Weber, Nietzsche and the last men 51 Weber and Tolstoy: exhuming the presuppositions of science 55 The value of practical reason 59 Conclusion 62 vii
viii Contents 5 The ethical irrationality of the world: Politics as a Vocation 64 The ideal-types of political action 65 Towards a reconciliation of conviction and responsibility 69 The immediacy of political judgement 73 Weber and Kant: from autonomy to heteronomy 76 Conclusion 78 PART II Weber and postmodern theory: Lyotard, Foucault and Baudrillard 81 6 Intermediate reflection 83 7 Weber, Lyotard and the aesthetic sphere 89 Postmodern science 89 Cultural differentiation and the collapse of the grand narrative 94 The later Lyotard 102 Art, figure and the aesthetic sphere 103 Conclusion 112 8 Weber, Foucault and the political sphere 113 Foucault s genealogical practice 114 Foucault s use of genealogy 117 Cultural science and genealogical history 120 The political ethics of legislative and interpretive practice 124 Conclusion 129 9 Weber, Baudrillard and the erotic sphere 131 Symbolic exchange and the law of value 132 Baudrillard s genealogy of value: the transition to modernity 135 The erotic sphere and seduction 142 Possibilities for re-enchantment 146 Conclusion 149 10 Conclusion 151 Notes 157 Bibliography 179 Index 190
Acknowledgements This project was funded initially by a research studentship from London Guildhall University. Chapter 5 has been published in revised form as Max Weber on the Ethical Irrationality of Political Leadership, Sociology, 31, 3, August 1997, pp. 549 64. Special thanks are due to Howard Caygill, Howard Dyke ( Das Wahre ist die Wahrheit! ), Thomas M. Kemple, Chris Rhodes, Scott Lash and Sam Whimster for reading, commenting on and criticizing various sections of this work. Above all, however, I would like to thank my mother and father for their inspiration, encouragement and advice, without which this book would not have been possible. ix