Max Weber as a Political Economist

Artikel

Max Weber's path to economic science was impacted to a large degree by political motives. The question emerges how the depiction, which has been maintained by historians of economics, of Weber as a methodologist – who demands objectivity and value freedom in scientific analysis – is compatible with the view of a young, politically-minded economist who, even from the university lectern, did not shy away from personal value judgments? The manuscripts first published recently in the context of the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe on his lectures Praktische Nationalökonomie (1895 – 1899) reveal that Weber distinguished sharply between value judgments and scientific analysis – not in order to suppress the former, but in order to be clear about his ultimate goals and its consequences at all times and to elevate these to guide his thinking in practical questions of political economy.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch ; ISSN: 2568-762X ; Volume: 140 ; Year: 2020 ; Issue: 2 ; Pages: 143-176

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: Europe: Pre-1913 ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy ; Other Economic Systems: Political Economy; Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: Max Weber ; Economic Sociology ; Political Economy ; Nation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Janssen, Hauke
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Duncker & Humblot
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.3790/schm.140.2.143
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET