Max Weber as outsider: His nominal influence on German sociology in the twenties

An assessment of the influence which Max Weber's writings had on the growth of German sociology after World War I. The author isolates those themes which were of major importance during the Weimar Republic: the concern with social integration; the shattered faith in reason; and the attempt to create a uniquely “German” sociology. It becomes clear that neither Weber's conception of sociology nor his methodological formulations had much impact on the next generation. These findings can be accounted for in three different ways: (1) that he died too early; (2) that German sociology lacked the necessary institutionalization; or (3) that there was a reorientation in scholarship following World War I, which Weber's opus could not bridge.