Wilhelmine Germany and Mandarin Sociology (I):  Weber
 
I.  Turbulent Growth and Political Conflict, 1890-1914
 
II.  Orthodox Marxism and the SPD
 
III.  German sociology as “mandarin modernism”
 
IV.  Max Weber
 
V.  The argument of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
 
Wilhelmine= the German empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II (1890-1918)
Junker (also plural)=Prussian aristocracy (landowning/military/elite civil service)
“organized capitalism” / bureaucracy (public and private) / cartels
feudalization of the middle class
 
SPD = Social Democratic Party
scientific socialism: 
1) laws of motion of capitalism (inevitable collapse)
2) economic determinism (consciousness as “reflection”)
 
Tönnies, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft / Community and (Modern) Society
orthodox vs. modernist mandarins (Simmel)
modernist mandarin sociologists:  Tönnies / Simmel / Weber / Mannheim
 
Max Weber, 1864-1920
Berlin / Heidelberg / southwest German liberalism
Huguenots (French Protestant refugees, 16th-17th centuries)
 
Beruf = vocation (occupation and calling)
Martin Luther
John Calvin
predestination (salvation by faith alone, not works)
“unprecedented inner loneliness”
worldly asceticism (or "innerworldly asceticism")
the disenchanting of the world (Entzauberung, draining the “magic”)
 
 
Mandarin Sociology (II):  Georg Simmel
 
I.  “A Stranger in the Academy”
 
II.  The Tragedy of Culture
 
III.  The Play of Sociability:  Fashion
 
1858-1918
 
“The Concept and the Tragedy of Modern Culture”
subjective culture / objective culture
alienation

“Philosophy of Fashion”
sociation / individuation
adaptation / differentiation
conformity / distinction