Cornell sociologist writes Weber dictionary about scholar's ideas

Richard Swedberg, an economic sociologist, in his Uris Hall office. He admires the work of noted German sociologist Max Weber but acknowledges that Weber is very difficult to understand. Swedberg's book, The Max Weber Dictionary: Key Words and Central Concepts, aims to make reading Weber more rewarding for anyone interested in Weber's writings. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Susan S. Lang

Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German sociologist, economist and political scientist who, as founder of the modern study of sociology and public administration, is regarded as one of the world's most important social scientists. He also has a reputation of being one of the most difficult to understand.

To help the general reader (and frustrated or tired student or teacher) get a better grasp of Weber's theories and works, Richard Swedberg, an economic sociologist, Weber scholar and professor of sociology at Cornell, has written The Max Weber Dictionary: Key Words and Central Concepts (Stanford University Press).

"Weber is so difficult to understand that I hope an aid in the form of a dictionary will be helpful," said Swedberg. "I wrote the book because I admire Weber's work. And, besides wanting to aid others to be able to study Weber without the difficulty I myself had, I also wanted to contribute to the culture around Weber's work."

Weber is known for his thesis of the "Protestant ethic," for emphasizing cultural and political influences on economic development and individual behavior, his ideas on bureaucracy, developing a methodology for social science, stressing plurality and an interdependence of causes and for his work in the sociology of religion. Late in his career, he pulled together many of his ideas to create a totally new type of sociology, known as interpretive sociology.

The 344-page book, which includes more than 30 pages of references, consists of numerous entries in a dictionary format. Each concept of Weber's work is summarized, followed by Weber's definition of the concept, where he used it, where else it has been discussed in a secondary source, and cross references to other useful entries in the dictionary.