He was the founder of modern sociology; He was the first intellectual giant to systematically study religion; In his 56-year-old life, he left behind millions of words of writings on philosophy, economics, politics, history, and even monographs. He was Max Weber.
Weber's greatness lies not only in his erudition and writings, but also in the fact that he single-handedly brought modern thought into the "adult period of conscious reflection"; What's more, he was the first thinker to comprehensively, systematically, and soberly gain insight into modern society; Since Weber, no discussion of rationality, modernity, values, conflict, etc., has been able to circumvent this milestone.
In Weber's view, there are four essential characteristics of modern society.
1. Modern society is a disenchanted societyThe ancients believed that "all things have spirits". No matter which ancient civilization it is, it is full of mysticism. In their world, not only people have souls, but also gods behind animals, plants, mountains, rivers, sun and moon. This means that man is a part of the world, and the gods can provide stability and solutions for humanity.
After the Renaissance, the Reformation, especially the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution, scientific reason completely dominated the human world.
Science requires evidence, logic, and argumentation. Only conclusions that can be observed, tested, questioned, refuted, and amended can be scientifically recognized. As a result, all mystical or transcendent "gods" have become nothingness in the face of science.
Max Weber was the first to use the word "disenchantment" to summarize this "change in the past and the present". Since then, human society has become an objective, clock-like physical world - a solar eclipse is a celestial phenomenon, not a warning from heaven or a heavenly dog eclipse of the sun; Water is the molecule of H2O, and there is no divine water or holy water in the world; When two people fall in love, it is not destined by marriage, but the role of hormones ......
Reason will not stop, and it will challenge the spirit and ethics that religion dominates. When Nietzsche shouted "God is dead", the "world of gods" that shared weal and woe with mankind completely disappeared, and the stability, order, and meaning of the human heart also disappeared.
As Weber said in "Academics as a Career", our era is an era of rationalization, an era of dispelling the charm of the world; The fate of our time is that all ultimate and noble values have been hidden ...... the public sphere
Second, modern society isA society that believes in the "battle of the gods".
Modern society is full of various value conflicts, and some people often sigh today, "the three views do not agree, and they can only drift apart." From the political stance to the taste of tofu brain, they can make trouble to cut off the table and cut off relations, and even resort to violence.
It was also Weber who was the first to make a precise statement about this trend of "value conflict". He refers to this modern society of pluralistic value systems as the "battle of the gods."Society: Traditional society, due to the existence of religion, is a society with relatively monistic religion in value. With the rise of reason, religion gradually receded.
But reason can only solve the factual judgment of what is, not the value judgment of why. Therefore, modern people will no longer have a stable consensus on the judgment of right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness.
Modern man is thrown into the battlefield of values, thinking and choosing alone. As Weber said, "Everyone has to decide who is your God and who is your devil." ”
The disappearance of value authority has made people regard their beliefs as "unquestionable and unchangeable absolute truths" and never agree with the values of others. It's like everyone has their own god, and "religious wars" are breaking out everywhere.
3. Modern society isA society of "bureaucratic organizations".
Many people often lament that modern interpersonal relationships always lack the warmth of the past, leaving only cold routines: the company is full of punch-ins, sign-ins, and process meetings; Teachers cannot "teach each child according to their aptitude", only giving lectures, homework and exams in the same way; Doctors do not have time to ask about the specific situation of patients one by one, so they can only rely on various examination indicators and go through the process of "symptomatic**".
It was also Weber who was the first to gain insight into the root causes of these phenomena. Weber divided human rationality into two types, value rationality and instrumental rationality. Value rationality is the determination of goals, such as value and meaning, through rational thinking; Instrumental rationality is to find the best means, such as rules and methods, to achieve goals through rational calculations.
But instrumental rationality has objective criteria, and we are prone to agreement; Value rationality, on the other hand, is entirely subjective, and it is difficult to find a definite answer.
Therefore, modern society has gradually become a society of "bureaucratic organization": the rules are reasonable, the discipline is strict, people do their duty, and do things according to the rules; The operation of the system is accurate and stable; Predictable, efficient, and highly executed......
Everyone takes it for granted, so the bureaucratic organization is becoming more and more developed. However, when "instrumental rationality" overpowers "value rationality", it continues to expand. Value rationality also gradually retreats until it disappears. People tend to only pursue efficiency and practicality, and do not care about value and meaning.
Fourth, modernSociety is a "steel cage" society
Modern people often sigh that they are a screw of the company, and they are in a state of dehumanization.
In fact, not only the company, but every department in the society, from ** to enterprises to schools, is a part of this "assembly line".
It was Max Weber who first revealed this dilemma. Weber referred to this instrumentalized society as an "iron cage."
He saidBecause impersonal rules monopolize society, modern people actually have little energy to pursue a deep freedom and rich personality. The most urgent task for everyone is to become a "scarce resource" in the fierce competition to adapt to this "steel cage".
As a result, people's general pursuit is no longer to become Shakespeare's "spirit of all things", but to suppress emotional impulses and even autonomous consciousness, and become a qualified and high-quality part.
Weber, in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, lamented that "experts have no soul, and those who have no heart and liver." Arendt's "banal evil" is also inspired by Weber.
But Weber also soberly pointed outThe iron cage is imprisonedHuman spirituality also protects us. Although the iron cage is ruthless, it allows the whole society to function efficiently, creates a huge number of jobs, provides an unprecedented abundance of material and cultural goods, and solves the problems that have plagued mankind for thousands of years: poverty, want, slavery, disease, and so on.
So Webb admonishes usDespite all the problems of the modern society like an iron cage, it is still a system of human survival, knowledge, prosperity and justiceModern man cannot be separated from it for a moment.
Romain Rolland said, "There is only one kind of heroism in the world, and that is to see the truth of life and still love life." ”
Weber's revelation of the essential truth of modern society not only makes us "wise and clear", but also admonishes us not to be bothered by simple pros and cons, but to face the whole truth honestly—this is another sense of "intellectual adulthood".
It can be said that no scholar has ever had such a comprehensive, profound and sober insight into modern society as Max Weber.
To understand Weber, to understand the core of the modern world, to understand the root causes of life's predicament, and to have heart-to-heart talks with the greatest thinkers of the modern world.
Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of people only know about Weber in the hearsay of "Capitalism and the Protestant Ethic", and are ignorant of his broad ideas and wonderful life. Most of Weber's works are ** collections, and the published books are also very inconsistent in terms of titles and contents. As a result, a high-quality set of Weber's works becomes extremely precious.
To this end, we sincerely recommend the following three sets to comprehensively, deeply and systematically understand Weber's thoughts: "Century Wenjing Weber's Collected Works" (six books, 8 volumes), translated by Yan Kewen, the most authoritative Weber expert in China, is the most complete collection of Weber's works in the Chinese world; The four books of "Weber's Sociology of Religion" are Weber's monographs on Eastern and Western religions; "Reading Weber's Three Books" includes a biography of Weber, a commentary on Weber's thoughts, and a copy of Weber's interpretation. Click on the product card below to collect it with one click.