This book explores the writings of Gadamer and Habermas on hermeneutics and the methodology of the social sciences. By re-examining their views of earlier interpretive theorists, from Wilhelm Dilthey
There has been considerable interest in recent years in German social thinkers of the Weimar era. Generally, this has focused on reactionary and nationalist figures such as Schmitt and Heidegger. In this book, Austin Harrington offers a broader account of the German intellectual legacy of the period. He explores the ideas of a circle of left-liberal cosmopolitan thinkers (Troeltsch, Scheler, Tönnies, Max Weber, Alfred Weber, Mannheim, Jaspers, Curtius, and Simmel) who responded to Germany's crisis by rejecting the popular appeal of nationalism. Instead, they promoted pan-European reconciliation based on notions of a shared European heritage between East and West. Harrington examines their concepts of nationhood, religion, and 'civilization' in the context of their time and in their bearing on subsequent debates about European identity and the place of the modern West in global social change. The result is a groundbreaking contribution to current questions in social, cultural and
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core topics, theories and debates in modern social theory. Fourteen chapters have been written by leading specialists in the field, providing up
Max Weber's famous study of 1904-05, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, has been, and continues to be, one of the most influential texts in the sociology of modern Western societies. H
The Encyclopedia of Social Theory contains over 500 entries varying from concise definitions of key terms and short biographies of key theorists to comprehensive surveys of leading concepts, debates,
