Primary Sources

Commissioned by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften), Max Weber Gesamtausgabe (Collected Works) have been published continuously since 1984 by J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), the original publisher of Weber’s works in Tübingen, Germany. The first editorial committee of 1973 consisted of Horst Baier, M. Rainer Lepsius, Wolfgang Mommsen, Wolfgang Schluchter, and Johannes Winkelmann. This monumental project consists of a total of forty-five (plus two index) volumes in three divisions, i.e., I. Writings and Speeches, II. Correspondences, and III. Lectures and Lecture Notes. In 2020, it was finally brought to a completion in time for the centenary of Weber’s death. The original commissioner, the Bavarian Academy, has begun to go on-line with an open-access digital format; for updates, the reader is referred to the publisher’s web page for the Max Weber Gesamtausgabe (digital).

Primary Texts in English Translation

In English, new translations have appeared since the turn of the century. Most notable among them would be The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Peter Baehr/Gordon C. Wells (Penguin Books, 2002) and Stephen Kalberg (Roxbury Publishing Co., 2002). Reflecting the latest Weber scholarship, both editions have many virtues, especially in terms of enhanced readability and adequate contextualization. Talcott Parson’s classic edition is still listed below because it is the most widely available text in English. Even more welcoming is the new compilation and translation of Weber’s methodological writings in Max Weber: Collected Methodological Writings (eds. Hans Henrik Bruun and Sam Whimster, trans. Hans Henrik Bruun, Routlege, 2012). The earlier anthology, for all its uneven quality of translation, is still used in this article for the same reason of availability.

• Weber, Max. 1895/1994. “The Nations State and Economic Policy (Freiburg Address)” in Weber: Political Writings, P. Lassman and R. Speirs (ed. and trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• –––, 1903–06/1975. Roscher and Knies: The Logical Problems of Historical Economics, G. Oakes (trans.), New York: Free Press.
• –––, 1904/1949. “Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy” in The Methodology of the Social Sciences, E. A. Shils and H. A. Finch (ed. and trans.), New York: Free Press. (Scholar)
• –––, 1904–05/1992. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, T. Parsons (trans.), A. Giddens (intro), London: Routledge.
• –––, 1906/1949. “Critical Studies in the Logic of the Cultural Sciences: A Critique of Eduard Meyer’s Methodological Views,” in The Methodology of the Social Sciences. (Scholar)
• –––, 1910/1978. “Antikritisches Schlußwort zum Geist des Kapitalismus,” in Max Weber: Die protestantische Ethik II: Kritiken und Antikritiken, ed. J. Winckelmann, Gerd Mohn: Gütersloher Verlaghaus. (Scholar)
• –––, 1910/2002. “Voluntary Associational Life (Vereinswesen),” Sung Ho Kim (ed. and trans.), Max Weber Studies, 2:2 (2002). (Scholar)
• –––, 1915/1946. “Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions” in From Max Weber. (Scholar)
• –––, 1917/1949. “The Meaning of ‘Ethical Neutrality’ in Sociology and Economics ” in The Methodology of the Social Sciences. (Scholar)
• –––, 1918/1994. “Parliament and Government in Germany Under a New Political Order” in Max Weber: Political Writings. (Scholar)
• –––, 1919/1994. “The Profession and Vocation of Politics” in Max Weber: Political Writing. (Scholar)
• –––, 1919/1946. “Science as a Vocation” in From Max Weber. (Scholar)
• –––, 1920/1946. “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” in From Max Weber. (Scholar)
• –––, 1920/1992. “Author’s Introduction (Vorbemerkung to GARS),” in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. (Scholar)
• –––, 1920. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie, 3 volumes, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr/Paul Siebeck, 1978. (Scholar)
• –––, 1921–22/1978. Economy and Society, 2 volumes, G. Roth and C. Wittich (eds.), Berkeley: University of California Press.
• –––, 1924. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Soziologie und Sozialpolitik, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr/Paul Siebeck. (Scholar)
• Weber, Marianne (ed.), 1926/1988. Max Weber: A Biography, H. Zohn (trans.), G. Roth (intro), New Brunswick: Transaction. (Scholar)

Anthologies

• Gerth, H.H., and C. Wright Mills (eds.), 1946. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Lassman, P. and R. Speirs (eds.), 1994. Weber: Political Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Shils, E.A. and H. A. Finch (eds.), 1949. The Methodology of the Social Sciences New York: Free Press. (Scholar)

Secondary Sources

• Anter, Andreas, 2016. Max Weber und die Staatsrechtslehre, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). (Scholar)
• Beetham, David, 1989. “Max Weber and the Liberal Political Tradition,” European Journal of Sociology, 30: 311–23. (Scholar)
• Beiser, F.C., 2011. The German Historicist Tradition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Bellamy, Richard, 1992. Liberalism and Modern Society, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University. (Scholar)
• Brubaker, Rogers, 1992. The Limits of Rationality, London: Routledge. (Scholar)
• Bruun, Hans Henrik, 1972 [2007]. Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber’s Methodology, Burlington, VT: Ashgate; new expanded edition, 2007.
• Coady, C.A.J., 2018. “The Problem of Dirty Hands,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/dirty-hands/> (Scholar)
• Cozzaglio, Ilaria and Amanda Greene, 2019. “Can Power be Self-legitimating: Political Realism in Hobbes, Weber, and Williams,” European Journal of Philosophy, 27(4): 1016–36. (Scholar)
• Derman, Joshua, 2012. Max Weber in Politics and Social Thought: From Charisma to Canonization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Forst, Rainer, 2012. The Right to Justification, New York: Columbia University Press. (Scholar)
• Galston, William, 2010. “Realism in Political Theory,” European Journal of Political Theory, 9(4): 385–411. (Scholar)
• Gellner, Ernest, 1974. Legitimation of Belief, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Goldman, Harvey, 1992. Politics, Death, and the Devil: Self and Power in Max Weber and Thomas Mann, Berkeley: University of California Press. (Scholar)
• Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1987. “The German Theological Sources and Protestant Church Politics,” in H. Lehmann and G. Roth (eds.), Weber’s Protestant Ethic: Origins, Evidence, Contents, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Green, Jeffrey Edward, 2008. “Max Weber and the Reinvention of Popular Power,” Max Weber Studies, 8(2): 187–224. (Scholar)
• Hanke, Edith, L. Scaff, and S. Whimster (eds.), 2019, The Oxford Handbook of Max Weber, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Hennis, Wilhelm, 1988. Max Weber: Essays in Reconstruction, London: Allen & Unwin. (Scholar)
• Henrich, Dieter, 1952. Die Einheit der Wissenschaftslehre Max Webers, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). (Scholar)
• Honigsheim, Paul, 2013. The Unknown Max Weber, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publisher. (Scholar)
• Hughes, H. S., 1977. Consciousness and Society: Reorientation of European Social Thought, New York: Vintage Books. (Scholar)
• Joose, Paul, 2014. “Becoming a God: Max Weber and the Social Construction of Charisma,” Sociological Theory, 14(3): 266–83. (Scholar)
• Käsler, Dirk, 1988. Max Weber: An Introduction to his Life and Work, P. Hurd (trans.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Scholar)
• Kim, Sung Ho, 2007. Max Weber’s Politics of Civil Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Löwith, Karl, 1982. Max Weber and Karl Marx, H. Fantel (trans.), London: Allen & Unwin. (Scholar)
• Mommsen, Wolfgang, 1984. Max Weber and German Politics, 1980–1920, Michael S. Steinberg (trans.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Scholar)
• Muirhead, Russel, 2014. The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Scholar)
• Palonen, Kari, 1999. “Max Weber’s Reconceptualization of Freedom,” Political Theory, 27(4): 523–44. (Scholar)
• Radkau, Joachim, 2011. Max Weber: A Biography, Patrick Camiller (trans.), Cambridge: Polity Press. (Scholar)
• Rehmann, Jan, 2013. Max Weber: Modernisation as Passive Revolution, A Gramscian Analysis, Max Henniger (trans.), Leiden: Brill. (Scholar)
• Rosenblum, Nancy, 2008. On the Side of the Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Scholar)
• Roth, Guenther, 2001. Max Webers deutschen-englische Familiengeschichte 1800–1950, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). (Scholar)
• Scaff, Lawrence, 2011. Max Weber in America, Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Scholar)
• Schluchter, Wolfgang, 1981. The Rise of Western Rationalism: Max Weber’s Developmental History, G. Roth (trans. and intro.), Berkeley: University of California Press. (Scholar)
• Schroeder, Ralph (ed.), 1998. Max Weber, Democracy, and Modernization, London: Palgrave Macmilan. (Scholar)
• Stammer. Otto (ed.), 1971. Max Weber and Sociology Today, New York: Harper. (Scholar)
• Strauss, Leo, 1950. Natural Right and History, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Scholar)
• Swedberg, Richard (ed.), 2005. The Max Weber Dictionary, Stanford: Stanford University Press. (Scholar)
• Taylor, Charles, 1989. Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Scholar)
• Tenbruck, Friedrich H., 1980. “The Problem of Thematic Unity in the Works of Max Weber,” British Journal of Sociology, 31(3): 316–51. (Scholar)
• Vattimo, Giani, 1988. The End of Modernity: Nihilism and Hermeneutics in Postmodern Culture, J. Snyder (trans.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Scholar)
• Waldron, Jeremy, 1999. Law and Disagreements, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Walzer, Michael, 1973. “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 2(2): 160–80. (Scholar)
• White, Jonathan and Lea Ypi, 2016. The Meaning of Partisanship, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Williams, Bernard, 2007. In the Beginning was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument, Geoffrey Hawthorne (ed.), Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Scholar)
• Wolin, Sheldon, 1981. “Max Weber: Legitimation, Method, and the Politics of Theory,” Political Theory, 9: 401–24. (Scholar)