The young Max Weber and German social democracy : the 'labour question' and the genesis of social theory in imperial Germany (1884-1899)

Author(s)
    • Strazzeri, Victor
Bibliographic Information

The young Max Weber and German social democracy : the 'labour question' and the genesis of social theory in imperial Germany (1884-1899)

by Victor Strazzeri

(Historical materialism book series, v. 259)

Brill, c2022

  • : hardback

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Note

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.) -- Freie Universität Berlin, 2017

Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-338) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The Young Max Weber and German Social Democracy examines the formative years of a classic social thinker once called the 'bourgeois Marx' from the standpoint of his relationship to the foremost working-class organization of his time. It argues that Weber's early engagement with the standpoint of the rural worker - not his later study of the ethics of ascetic Protestant entrepreneurs - first convinced him of the central role of culture in human agency. The crisis of liberalism in a rapidly modernising, conflict-ridden Imperial Germany embarking on colonial expansion emerges in the work as the decisive setting for the genesis of Weberian social thought; the rising labour movement, in turn, as the young Weber's little-know yet crucial interlocutor.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part 1 The Young Max Weber and Imperial German Politics: Between the Crisis of Liberalism and the Challenge of German Social Democracy (1884-1891/2) 1 The Young Weber's Diagnosis of the Political Situation in Imperial Germany (1884-5) Introduction 1 German Liberalism after 1878: Between the 'Greek Gift' of Universal Suffrage and Anti-Socialist Repression 2 The 1884 Reichstag Elections and the Emerging Role of German Social Democracy 3 The Crisis of the Liberal Parties and the 'Right-Wing Turn' of National Liberals in 1884 2 Hermann Baumgarten and the Young Max Weber: The Ambiguous Legacy of National Liberalism 1 A Direct Conduit to the Dilemmas of the German Liberal Bourgeoisie 2 German Liberalism, a Self-Critique: National Liberalism's Foundational Manifesto of 1866 3 'Realpolitik' and Positivism 4 'Realpolitik' as Ideology 3 The Webers and the 'Social Question': The German Bourgeoisie's 'Patriarchal' and Gendered Engagement with the Contradictions of Modern Class Society 1 Contextualising Helene Weber's Influence in Max Weber's Development 2 The Reign of the Bourgeois: Local Administration and the 'Social Question' in the German Lands until the 1880s 3 Max Weber Sr.'s Patriarchal Engagement with the 'Social Question' in the Berlin Metropolis 4 Monarchical Convictions and Christian Philanthropy: Helene Weber's Social Engagement 5 The 'Social Question' and National Liberal Legacy 4 Outgrowing National Liberalism (1887) 1 From Political Commentator to Historical Actor 2 A Balance Sheet of Liberal 'Realpolitik': Reflecting On the Kulturkampf amidst a Ramp Up of Repression against Socialists 5 Witness to the End of an Era: The 'Three-Kaiser Year', Mass Strikes and Bismarck's Fall (1888-1891/2) 1 Introduction 2 Taking Stock of Bismarck's Legacy amongst the Berlin Masses 3 Weber's Generation Confronts a Liberal Camp Divided between Opportunists and Fundamentalists 4 The Resurgent Working Class: The Ruhr Miners' Strike of 1889 and the Expansion Of State Social Policy 5 After the Sozialistengesetz: The 1890 Elections and the Fall of Bismarck 6 1891: Assessing a New Political Reality 7 Conclusion of Part 1: 'The Existence Of Social Democracy ... Is Truly a Bliss' Part 2 Max Weber's Laboratory: The 'Rural Labour Question' and the Genesis of Weberian Social Thought (1892-4) 6 Contextualising Max Weber's Dialogue with German Social Democracy: The Debate on the Worker as a Political Actor from the Pre-1848 Period to 1890s Imperial Germany 7 Social Science Takes On Social Conflict: The Stakes behind the Surveys on the 'Rural Labour Question' in 1890s Imperial Germany 1 Introduction 2 Two Surveys on the 'Rural Labour Question': Establishing a Manageable Basis for Comparison 3 The Debate on the Need to Involve Workers Directly in the Surveys 4 Subjectivity and Social Change: Weber's Call To Engage Workers' Standpoint (... Indirectly) 5 In Search Of Workers' 'Ethical-Ideal Drivers' 6 The Methodological (and Political) Implications of Protestant Ministers as Sources 7 The Verein Questionnaires under Social Democrat Scrutiny 8 Social Research, Agrarian Change, and the Question of Workers' Vantage Point: The Genesis of Max Weber's Social Theory in His Engagement with the 'Rural Labour Question' 1 Max Weber and Paul Goehre: The Issue of Workers' 'Rightful' Claim to Recognition and the Spectre of Social Democracy 2 The Breakdown of 'Patriarchal Relations' in the German Countryside and the Changing Makeup of Its Rural Working Class 3 'The Heavens and the World Market': Agrarian Capitalism and the Growing Social Divisions in the German East 4 The 'Psychological Factor': Max Weber's Early Conceptualisation of the Immanent Logic of Social Processes 5 Conclusion: Workers' Standpoint and the Genesis of Weber's Social Theory 9 The Standpoint of 'State Reason' vs. the Standpoint of the Working Class: Max Weber's Squares Off with Social Democrats on the 'Rural Labour Question' 1 Introduction 2 Two Generations of Political Economists Take On the 'Labour Question' 3 Max Weber Debates Karl Kaerger On the Role of Worker Subjectivity in the 'Rural Labour Question' 4 'Let's Leave That for Workers Themselves to Sort Out!': Social Democrats' Critical Approach to the 'Rural Labour Question' 5 The 'Standpoint of State Reason' as the Young Max Weber's Compromise between Partisanship and Objectivity 6 Conclusion. The Imperative to Defend German Kultur: Max Weber between Worker Self-Consciousness and the Legacy of 'Prussianism' Part 3 Imperialism and the Nexus of Class, Race and Culture in Max Weber's Early Thought (1894-8) 10 Between a Global Standpoint and a Normative Concept of Culture: Max Weber on Labour, 'Cultural Difference' and the World Market 1 The World Market as an Inescapable Reality 2 Max Weber's Global Standpoint on Social Conflict and the Role of Kultur 3 The Labour-Culture Nexus in Max Weber's Early Thought 4 Culture, Race and Labour: The Genesis of Weber's Cultural Approach to Economic Activity and Its Contradictions 5 Class and Cultural Difference in Weber's Engagement with Workers' Standpoint 6 Conclusion: Xenophobia as Legitimate Class Consciousness? Weber's Critique Of Social Democrats' 'Dream of Racial and Cultural Equality' 11 Breaking the 'Solidarity of All the Ruled': Culture and Imperialism in Max Weber's Solution to the 'Labour Question' 1 Introduction: Max Weber between the Liberal Brentano and the Socialist Engels 2 Imperialism and the Labour Aristocracy: Looking Towards Britain with Engels as Mediator 3 Fordism as Fate? Weber's Two-Staged Understanding of Social Conflict in the 'Factory System' 4 Conclusion: A Matter of (Worker) Conscience: The Role of Ideals and Kultur in Facing the Challenge of Social Democracy Epilogue: The Late Max Weber and the Problem of the Non-existing Alternative to Capitalism Bibliography and Sources Index

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