Max Weber's 'Interpretive Sociology': A Comparison of Conception and Practice

The paper compares one aspect of Max Weber's explicit conception of'interpretive sociology' with his actual practices in his substantive investigations. It shosvs that Weber's overt emphasis on the importance of meanings and motives in causal explanation of social action does not correspond adequately with the true mode of explanation involved in his comparative-historical studies of the world religions. Rather, the ultimate level of causal explanation in Weber's substantive writings is that of the social-structural conditions under which certain forms of meaning and motivation can achieve historical efficacy. A model is developed to represent the actual nature of 'Weberian sociology'. It is proposed that this internal comparative analysis and interpretation can have useful implications for contemporary sociological debates and approaches. The nature of Max Weber's sociology has intrigued and puzzled later analysts of society and social theory. The 'ambiguities' and 'tensions' in Weber's work have often been noted; and, despite the richness and scope of both Weber's methodological and his substantive writings, no coherent 'Weberian school' has developed. Debates over the issues with which Weber grappled, and the answers he attempted to provide, still persist. Yet what exactly was Weber's approach to sociology? I shall attempt to provide some sort of an answer to this question by examining an internal inconsistency in Weber's work. This is the divergence between Weber's explicit conception of'interpretive sociology' and his actual mode of explanation in his substantive writings on the world religions. A confrontation of conception with practice reveals that 'interpretive sociology' plays a role in Weber's work other than that explicitly intended for it. By analysing the true nature of 'Weberian explanation', it may be possible to clarify certain issues both in the interpretation of Weber's work and in the contemporary development of sociological theory. The most programmatic statement cxf Weber's conception of sociology occurs at the beginning of his systematic treatise entitled Economy This content downloaded from 207.46.13.93 on Tue, 02 Aug 2016 05:30:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms