Max Weber's "Sociology of Domination" in the Light of Recent Publications

Abstract

Book Reviews 139 My overall impressions are that the volume is a remarkable work of recovery of the life and work of Marianne Weber and her network within the women's movement. It is also striking how effectively Wobbe can recover Weber's sociology of 'weibliche' culture for contemporary sociology. This stands in contrast to the refractory nature of Wilhelmine society (and worse, beyond) and the sheer toughness and determina tion of the women's movement (irrespective of their internal arguments). It is also a tribute to the life world of Heidelberg—a 'notoriously provincial town' as Krüger terms it. Its critical—here 'weibliche'—spirit confronted Wilhelmine patriarchalism, even though future historians and sociologists have had to go much deeper to bring to light the structural basis of the discontents of that society. Sam Whimster London Metropolitan University Sam Whimster 'Max Weber's "Sociology of Domination" in the Light of Recent Publications', review of Edith Hanke and Wolfgang J. Mommsen (eds.), Max Webers Herrschaftssoziologie (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), pp. 363. ISBN 3-16-147649-2. €49.7 The work of editing a Complete Edition of Max Weber has recently led to the appear ance of a series of publications, by-products as it were, which are all concerned to go further into important areas of Max Weber's writings.8 As the introduction to this volume (a collection of the papers given at a conference on Max Weber's sociology of domination) acknowledges, it should be regarded as being closely related to the forthcoming edition of Max Weber's Herrschaftssoziologie as part of the Complete Edition. It will therefore come as no surprise that in addition to the textual history, which allows us to relate this text to the other 'Sociologies of' as categorized by Marianne Weber in her editions, many other connections to con temporary debates are also drawn and these show the context within which the various drafts of the sociology of domination were produced. These contexts can be thought of as Max Weber's 'ideale Bibliothek' or 'conceptual library' to borrow the expression M. Montinari used in relation to Nietzsche. Last but not least, the universal 7.