Max Weber: From History to Modernity

This authoritative book, written by one of the leading Weber scholars in the English-speaking world, examines Max Weber's contribution to the contemporary debate about modernity and postmodernity. Bryan Turner examines contemporary interpretations of Weber's relationship to Marx, Nietzsche and Simmel. Turner also demonstrates the significance of Weber's comparative and historical sociology to an understanding of the complexity of secular industrial societies. In addition, Turner explores the rationalization theme in Weber's sociology by examining scientific rationality, religious change, political metaphors and the discipline of the body. The book provides a guide to the current issues in social theory, religion, rationalization, the body, modernization and capitalism. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in Weber's claim that the aim of sociology must be to explain what is distinctive about the times in which we live.