Max Weber and the Theory of Ancient Capitalism

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4495884
AutoresJohn R Love (autor de correspondencia), John Love (0000-0003-4273-6043)
Año1986
Volumen25
Número2
Páginas152
Fecha de publicación1986-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistory and Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2505303
OpenAlexW2315468504
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5

In the now quite voluminous literature dealing with the work of Max Weber, it is surprising how few commentators have addressed his writings on antiquity.1 I say surprising because Weber wrote two major books concerned exclusively with antiquity, and many of his other writings are concerned with it as well. It is worth remembering that Weber began his scholarly career as an ancient historian, and it was really only after his nervous breakdown mid-career as it were -that he turned his attention to the study of more contemporary matters out of which his great sociological works emerged. Thus it is of some interest, both for the history of ideas and also heuristically as regards an understanding of Weber's later work, to look once again at this early phase of his career. But, most importantly, in the following essay, I wish to focus upon a key issue raised here in this work of Weber-the issue of capitalism.2 I shall do this in part because one of the main conceptual concerns of Weber in these early works perhaps the key, unifying theme in them is the issue of the existence and nature of ancient capitalism. It is not well known that Weber took very seriously the idea that capitalism played an important, perhaps decisive, role in the life of ancient societies. As we shall see shortly, Weber's precise

Capitalism · Economics · Epistemology · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · History · Law · Philosophy · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory