Max Weber in the 21st century: interview with Sthepen Kalberg

Abstract

The years of 2020, 2021 and 2022 form a memorable three-year period for the Weberian theory. In 2020 we look back on Weber's 100 years death anniversary. In 2021, we celebrate the jubilee of the posthumous publication of his exceptional work Economy and Society [Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft] - considered the most important sociological work of the 20th century, according to an opinion poll by the ISA (International Sociological Association) Congress Program Committee. In the upcoming year of 2022, we will remember the centenary of the Collected Essays on Sociology of Religion [Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre].

A hundred years have passed since Weber's inaugural publications and they are still an inexorable source of learning, either through the analysis of its historical-hermeneutic aspects or in the discussion of the current Weberian theory. The publications of Professor Dr. Stephen Kalberg, an exponent of specialized exegesis, demonstrate Weber's ability to apprehend current phenomena. Stephen Kalberg is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Boston University and the author of numerous impact articles, among which we emphasize Max Weber's types of rationality: Cornerstones for the analysis of rationalization processes in history. In his recent book Searching the Spirit of American Democracy: Max Weber on a Unique Political Culture, Past Present, and Future (a work translated into French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Korean), for example, the author employs the Weberian theory to reconstruct the specificity which characterize the spirit of american democracy as a means to highlight the relevance of Weber's work.