Max Weber's Genteel Racism

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Thu Dec 7 12:43:23 PST 2000



>>> jkschw at hotmail.com 12/07/00 03:28PM >>>

I'm afraid Kelly's cruticisms of you are on target, Yoshie. Weber sees two main kings of rationality, Zweckrationalitaet, or instrumental rationality, which he ascribes to _Protestantism,_ not Europeans, and Wertrationalitaet, value rationality, which he ascribes to everybody else; the idea is that Protestantism promoted a sort of means-end calculation important for the development of capitalist institutions. Wertrationalitaet is characterized by less calculating pursuit of nonmaterial goals, such as honor. Weber thought that socialists were driven by W-R, btw. How you can get pro-European racism out of this beats me. Also, you neglect that Weber thought that Z-R was a very mixed blessing, leading ulrimately to the "iron cage" in which he thinks we moderns are caught. --jks

(((((((((((

CB: What's Weber's solution to the problem ?



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