Weber against Marx (was Re: Nullities)

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Fri Dec 8 13:43:54 PST 2000



>>> furuhashi.1 at osu.edu 12/07/00 09:00PM >>>
Kelley:


>yoshie, your latest is another batch of rubbish. as i said once:
>the entire basis of your and carrol's whine has been that you wanted
>him to write a book he never set out to write in the first place.

You forget that Max Weber came _after_ Karl Marx & the rise of Marxist movements (as opposed to utopian socialist movements at the dawn of modernity, like the Levellers, etc.). Weber & most of his followers have advanced their theory _not to complement Marxism but to oppose it_ (in analysis of history, classes, states, etc.). Though some exceptions exist, such as the Frankfurt School, Perry Anderson (who is sometimes characterized as a Weberian Marxist), etc., it is undeniable that the predominant result of Weber's influence is found in those who think like Anthony Giddens. (Besides, Weberian Marxists are more a problem than an inspiring exception: Frankfurt School theorists, Perry Anderson, etc. _are_ pessimistic in the same way that Weber was.)

And you recall Carrol & my criticism of Eric Olin Wright.

So, naturally, Carrol & I are not complaining that Weber did not write a book that we wanted him to write. He could not have, for his thought was based upon the rejection of Marx. Hence his _liberal pessimism & the Iron Cage_.

(((((((((((((((

CB: It is sort of like in Reds when Lenin trades 15 bourgeois professors in exchange to get John Reed out of the Finnish prison. Imagine how many Webers Lenin was worth.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list