Theory Of Weber's Theory Of Modernity And Its Significance

The main purpose of thi s thesis is to consider Weber’s theory of modernity and reveal its theoretical significance and limits, based on historical materialism. According to this basic task, the following aspects must be elaborated:First, the’rationalization’is total propositions of Weber’s theory. The two logics of rationalization should be used to explain Weber’s sociology of religion and politics, which are interpreted in the framework of the rationalization of culture and society. The former relates to the’disenchantment’of the Western religion and the secularization of modern culture, the latter related to the modern power politics and bureaucracy. Secondly, the theory of rationalization is basic paradigm of modernity. If The Protestant Ethic thesis is interpreted perfectly, we must rely on the interaction between the two logics of the rationalization. By means of the paradox of rationalization, Weber gives critique of modernity, and more specifically demonstrates the paradox between the formal rationality and substantive rationality, which is crisis of significance in rationalization of culture, and crisis of freedom in rationalization of society. Like Marx’s labor paradigm, Weber’s rationalization paradigm has been critically inherited by Western Marxism. Again, we indicate the significance of Weber’s theory. Weber’s sociology of religion can fight back economic determinism, the perspective of rationalization of religious constitutes cultural theory of modernity, extending Marxism theory of alienation to the modern cultural criticism, Weber analysis the drawbacks of technology and bureaucracy in modern society, providing the ideological resources for reflection in advanced industrial society. Finally, this paper exposes the limitations of Weber’s theory. From historical materialism, Weber ignores the essential dimension (abstract labor, capital)of modern capitalist society,which leads to misinterpret the modern issues of religion, culture, technology, bureaucracy, degenerating to rationalism theory of modernity.