Legitimacy and Revolution in a Society of Masses — Max Weber, Antonio Gramsci, and the Fin-de-sicle Debate on Social Order

Giglioli examines the question of legitimacy and political agency during the 50 years after the Paris Commune, particularly in the context of major European (Victorian) thinkers of the time and revolutionary movements. He analyzes the various attempts to theorize collective behavior and the concepts of legitimacy that hold them together. He looks at antidemocratic thought and decadence in France around the turn of the century, reasons of the state in Vilfredo Pareto, legitimacy and the philosophy of history in Antonio Labriola, charisma and disenchantment in Max Weber, and alienation and totality in Antonio Gramsci. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)