Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft

Max Weber's Economy and Society is not a book in parts, but a project in versions. One version was conceived and written down before World War I, one after the war. This post-war version, partly based on the pre-war version, contains four chapters. The revised text is presented here with an afterword and editorial information. Especially Chapter II, entitled "Fundamental Categories of Economic Action", in the secondary literature very often foregone, poses a puzzle. It is not only the longest chapter, but also the chapter for which a pre-war manuscript most likely did not exist. This puzzle, amongst others, is addressed. Due to Weber's premature death, the post-war version remained unfinished. No plan for the rest was handed down to us. The edition allows a new look at one of the most influential sociological texts written throughout the 20th century.

Geboren 1864 in Erfurt; Studium der Jurisprudenz, Geschichte, Nationalökonomie und Philosophie in Heidelberg, Berlin und Göttingen; 1889 Promotion über die Geschichte der Handelsgesellschaften im Mittelalter; 1891 Habilitationsschrift über Römische Agrargeschichte; Ordinarius für Nationalökonomie in Freiburg (ab 1894) und Heidelberg (ab 1897); Mitherausgeber des Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik und Redakteur des Grundriß der Sozialökonomik; umfassende Beiträge zur Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften, zur Politik des deutschen Kaiserreichs, zu Wirtschaft, Politik, Religion, Recht und Kunst in universalgeschichtlicher Perspektive; nach langem, krankheitsbedingtem Interim schließlich Professor für Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Nationalökonomie in München (ab 1919); gestorben 1920 in München.