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Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1-22 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0263276405054985

Instrumentum Vocale

A Note on Max Weber’s Value-free Polemics and Sociological Aesthetics

Thomas M. Kemple

Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia

Max Weber’s reply to Werner Sombart’s lecture on technology and culture, presented at the first meeting of the German Sociological Society held in Frankfurt in 1910, is discussed in terms of its conventional and improvised character as a distinctive mode of ‘sociological’ speech. Emphasis is placed on the specific rhetorical circumstances that gave rise to these remarks, especially with regard to Weber’s status as an authorized speaker at the meeting, and their formulation as a response to Marxist theories accepted or criticized by members of the audience. In characterizing the relationship between technology and culture specifically as a topic of sociological discourse, Weber’s comments therefore constitute a speech-act in their own right. They both conform to the protocols of ‘value-free’ academic debate upheld by the Society and experiment with this new genre and forum of intellectual discussion. Weber’s innovative aspirations are ultimately in tension with his efforts to routinize or even rationalize the scholarly vocation (Beruf) of sociology as both an inward calling and an institutionalized profession that can speak critically to the most pressing and relevant issues of the day.

Key Words: aesthetics • culture • polemics • rhetoric • sociology • technology • Weber


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