Journal ArticleDOI
Disenchantment and its discontents: Weberian perspectives on science and technology*
TLDR
Weber's ideas about science and technology have largely been neglected by comparison with his views of modern politics and economics as discussed by the authors. Yet his notion of disenchantment is central to his conception of modern society and to his comparative studies of the rise of Western rationalism.Abstract:
Weber's ideas about science and technology have largely been neglected by comparison with his views of modern politics and economics. Yet his notion of disenchantment is central to his conception of modern society and to his comparative studies of the rise of Western rationalism. This importance is underlined by the use to which Weber's ideas have been put by two contemporary thinkers. Ernest Gellner extends the notion of disenchantment in his account of the cognitive style of industrial society, but argues that it does not necessarily pose the threat which Weber's cultural pessimism suggests. Randall Collins, on the other hand, develops a Weberian account of the social basis for technological change, arguing that geopolitical centres give rise to technological innovation. In view of the urgency of the question of the role of science and technology in modern society, these Weberian perspectives provide an important theoretical tool since they offer a framework in which this question can be addressed.read more
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Disenchantment, Enchantment and Re-Enchantment: Max Weber at the Millennium
TL;DR: In this article, the authors challenge the classic Weberian account of disenchantment as a uni-directional and universalizing tendency of modernity, and argue that enchantment may be a stimulus to rationalization.
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GPs in cyberspace: The sociology of a 'virtual community'
Nick J. Fox,Chris Roberts +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used data from an electronic discussion group for general medical practitioners (GPs) to evaluate the similarities and discrepancies between on-line and face-to-face interactions.
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Weber and the Environment: Classical Foundations for a Postexemptionalist Sociology1
TL;DR: Weber's approach to the environment, including its significance for his interpretive-causal framework and his understanding of capitalism, has been examined in this paper, where Weber's sociological meanings were often anchored in biophysical realities, including climate change, resource consumption, and energy scarcity, while environmental influences were refracted in complex ways within cultural reproduction.
Networked Worlds: Social Aspects ofMulti-User Virtual Reality Technology
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine two aspects of multi-user virtual reality systems; the socio-technical shaping of these systems and the social relations inside virtual reality virtual world, and conclude that how is the development of multiple users virtual reality technology influencing how users interact within virtual worlds - and vice versa.
References
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Book
From Max Weber: Essays in sociology
TL;DR: A collection of Max Weber's key papers is presented in this article with a new preface by Professor Bryan S. Turner, who was one of the most prolific and influential sociologists of the twentieth century.
Book
Culture, identity, and politics
TL;DR: In this article, Gellner discusses the roots of cohesion in complex societies, including nationalism and two forms of cohesion, the rubber cage and the slave Hamlet of Europe.
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Relativism and the social sciences
TL;DR: Jarvie and Agassi as mentioned in this paper discuss positivism against Hegelianism and the scientific status of the social sciences, and what is structuralism, and no haute cuisine in Africa.
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Religion in India
TL;DR: The Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology have been carefully planned to suit and needs of the general reader, students, teachers, as well as scholars from other disciplines as mentioned in this paper.