MAX WEBER AND THE MORAL ECONOMY OF OFFICE

Abstract

This article focuses upon a crucial aspect of Max Weber's work, one that has been largely neglected by scholars of organization, in cultural economy as much as in economic sociology more generally. That is Lebensführung, the conduct of life. The article argues that Weber's approach to questions of Lebensführung locates him as a late but prodigious practitioner in a tradition of the ethics of office, particularly as the latter becomes a defensive doctrine. In making this case, the vocabulary of office in Weber's work is explored and its importance for an understanding of the ethico-cultural constitution of a variety of instituted personae is highlighted. The article concludes by briefly suggesting why and how a Weberian ethics of office remains a key resource for scholars of organizational life, including those operating in the emergent field of ‘cultural economy’.