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Rationalization in Weber and Habermas: A Comparative Perspective on a Macrosociological Concept

Year 2014, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 13 - 40, 01.05.2014

Abstract












Bu makale, rasyonalleşme
kavramsallaştırmalarını kıyaslayarak Weber ve Habermas’ın makro sosyolojileri
hakkında genel bir değerlendirme sunmayı hedeflemektedir. Çalışmanın ilk
bölümünde Weber’in farklı rasyonalite tiplerini nasıl tasnif ettiği ele almakta
ve Weber’in geliştirdiği formel rasyona- lite eleştirisi değerlendirmektedir.
Bu bölümde Weber’in, topluma sistematikleştirme getirirken bir yandan da
insan boyutuna zarar verme potansiyeli olan rasyonelleşme sürecinin ikili
karakterini nasıl tasvir ettiği ele alınmaktadır. Makalenin ikinci bölümü,
Habermas’ın rasyonelleşme kavramını yeniden yorumlamasına odaklanmaktadır. Bu
bölümde siyasetin rasyonelleşmesi ve bilimselleşmesi, yaşam alanının rasyonalleşmesi
ve kolonizasyonu arasındaki ayrım ve Habermas’ın öngördüğü tartışma
süreçleri ile oluşturulmuş hukuk sistemi sayesinde siyasetin rasyonalleşmesi
olasılığı ele alınmaktadır. Makalenin sonuç bölümünde rasyonelleşme
sürecinin ikili özelliğinin rasyonalleşmenin diyalektiği olarak
nitelenebileceği iddia edil- mektedir.



References

  • Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Englightenment (London: Verso, 1989). Bauman, Zygmunt, Modernity and the Holocaust (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989). Cherkaoui, Mohamed, “Macrosociology-Microsociology,” in Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (London: Elsevier, 2004). Elwell, Frank, Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists (Colorado: Paradigm Publishers, 2006). Elwell, Frank, Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009). Georg Lukács, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1975). Giddens, Anthony, “Marx, Weber, and the Development of Capitalism,” Sociology, 4/4 (September 1970), pp.289-310. Giddens, Anthony, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber (London: Cambridge University Press, 1978). Giddens, Anthony, Politics, Sociology and Social Theory (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). Gülalp, Haldun, “State and Class in Capitalism: Marx and Weber on Modernity,” Current Perspectives in Social Theory, 16 (1996), pp.53-70. Habermas, Jürgen, Communication and the Evolution of Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979). Habermas, Jürgen, Legitimation Crisis (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1976). Habermas, Jürgen, “Dogmatism, Reason, and Decision: On Theory and Praxis in Our Scientific Civilization,” in Theory and Practice (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973). Habermas, Jürgen, “Modernity: An Unfinished Project,” in Maurizio Passerin d’Entrèves and Seyla Benhabib (eds.), Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996). Habermas, Jürgen, “Technology and Science as ‘Ideology,’” in Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science and Politics (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970). Habermas, Jürgen, “The Scientization of Politics and Public Opinion,” in Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science and Politics (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970). Habermas, Jürgen, The Theory of Communicative Action, I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984). Habermas, Jürgen,“Three Normative Models of Democracy,” in The Inclusion of the Other: Studies in Political Theory (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1999), pp.239-252. Habermas, Jürgen, The Theory of Communicative Action, II, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992). Habermas, Jürgen, “Law and Morality,” The Tanner Lectures on Human Value, Harvard University, 1 and 2 October, 1986; retrieved from: http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/h/habermas 88.pdf.on 4 March, 2014, Hawley, Amos, “The Logic of Macrosociology,” Annual Review of Sociology, 18 (1992), pp.1-14. Held, David, Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980). Kalberg, Stephen, “Max Weber’s Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Process in History,” American Journal of Sociology, 85/5 (1980), pp.1145-1179. Knapp, Peter, “The Revival of Macrosociology: Methodological Issues of Discontinuity in Comparative- Historical Theory,” Sociological Forum, 5/4 (1990), pp. 545-567. Löwy, Michel, On Changing the World: Essays in Political Philosophy, from Karl Marx to Walter Benjamin (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1993). Pippin, Robert B., Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Ritzer, George, Sociological Theory (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996). Ritzer, George, The McDonaldization of Society (Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 1993). Sanderson, Stephen K., Macrosociology: An Introduction to Human Socieites (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991). Sayer, Derek, Capitalism and Modernity: An Excursus on Marx and Weber (London: Routledge, 1991), p.99. Tilly, Charles, “Macrosociology, Past and Future,” Newsletter of the Comparative & Historical Sociology, 8/2 (Fall/Winter 1995), pp.1-4. Turner, Bryan S., Max Weber: From History to Modernity (London: Routledge, 1992), Turner, Bryan S., “Marx, Weber, and the Coherence of Capitalism” in Norbert Willey (ed.), Marx-Weber Debate (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1987). Weber, Max, “Author’s Introduction” in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2002). Weber, Max, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, [edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich] (New York: Bedminster, 1968). Weber, Max, Essays in Sociology (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964). Weber, Max, “Religious Rejections of the World and their Directions” in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2002). Western, Bruce and Christopher Muller, “Mass Incarceration, Macrosociology, and the Poor,” The ANNALS of the AAPSS, 647 (May 2013), pp.166-189.

Rationalization in Weber and Habermas: A Comparative Perspective on a Macrosociological Concept

Year 2014, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 13 - 40, 01.05.2014

Abstract








This paper overviews the macrosociology of Weber and Habermas by focusing on the ways they
conceptualized rationalization. The first section of the paper discusses Weber’s classification for different
types of rationality and emphasizes Weber’s criticism of formal rationality. This section outlines how
Weber described the Janus-faced character of rationalization, which does bring systematization to society, and
may result in the obliteration of the human dimension within systematic concerns. The second section of the
paper focuses on Habermas’s reinterpretation of the notion of rationalization. It includes the rationalization and
scientization of politics, the rationalization-colonization distinction of the lifeworld, and the rationalization
of politics as deliberation process and law. The paper argues that the double character of rationalization
can be referred to as the dialectic of rationalization. 




References

  • Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Englightenment (London: Verso, 1989). Bauman, Zygmunt, Modernity and the Holocaust (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989). Cherkaoui, Mohamed, “Macrosociology-Microsociology,” in Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (London: Elsevier, 2004). Elwell, Frank, Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists (Colorado: Paradigm Publishers, 2006). Elwell, Frank, Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009). Georg Lukács, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1975). Giddens, Anthony, “Marx, Weber, and the Development of Capitalism,” Sociology, 4/4 (September 1970), pp.289-310. Giddens, Anthony, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber (London: Cambridge University Press, 1978). Giddens, Anthony, Politics, Sociology and Social Theory (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). Gülalp, Haldun, “State and Class in Capitalism: Marx and Weber on Modernity,” Current Perspectives in Social Theory, 16 (1996), pp.53-70. Habermas, Jürgen, Communication and the Evolution of Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979). Habermas, Jürgen, Legitimation Crisis (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1976). Habermas, Jürgen, “Dogmatism, Reason, and Decision: On Theory and Praxis in Our Scientific Civilization,” in Theory and Practice (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973). Habermas, Jürgen, “Modernity: An Unfinished Project,” in Maurizio Passerin d’Entrèves and Seyla Benhabib (eds.), Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996). Habermas, Jürgen, “Technology and Science as ‘Ideology,’” in Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science and Politics (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970). Habermas, Jürgen, “The Scientization of Politics and Public Opinion,” in Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science and Politics (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970). Habermas, Jürgen, The Theory of Communicative Action, I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984). Habermas, Jürgen,“Three Normative Models of Democracy,” in The Inclusion of the Other: Studies in Political Theory (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1999), pp.239-252. Habermas, Jürgen, The Theory of Communicative Action, II, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992). Habermas, Jürgen, “Law and Morality,” The Tanner Lectures on Human Value, Harvard University, 1 and 2 October, 1986; retrieved from: http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/h/habermas 88.pdf.on 4 March, 2014, Hawley, Amos, “The Logic of Macrosociology,” Annual Review of Sociology, 18 (1992), pp.1-14. Held, David, Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980). Kalberg, Stephen, “Max Weber’s Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Process in History,” American Journal of Sociology, 85/5 (1980), pp.1145-1179. Knapp, Peter, “The Revival of Macrosociology: Methodological Issues of Discontinuity in Comparative- Historical Theory,” Sociological Forum, 5/4 (1990), pp. 545-567. Löwy, Michel, On Changing the World: Essays in Political Philosophy, from Karl Marx to Walter Benjamin (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1993). Pippin, Robert B., Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Ritzer, George, Sociological Theory (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996). Ritzer, George, The McDonaldization of Society (Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 1993). Sanderson, Stephen K., Macrosociology: An Introduction to Human Socieites (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991). Sayer, Derek, Capitalism and Modernity: An Excursus on Marx and Weber (London: Routledge, 1991), p.99. Tilly, Charles, “Macrosociology, Past and Future,” Newsletter of the Comparative & Historical Sociology, 8/2 (Fall/Winter 1995), pp.1-4. Turner, Bryan S., Max Weber: From History to Modernity (London: Routledge, 1992), Turner, Bryan S., “Marx, Weber, and the Coherence of Capitalism” in Norbert Willey (ed.), Marx-Weber Debate (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1987). Weber, Max, “Author’s Introduction” in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2002). Weber, Max, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, [edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich] (New York: Bedminster, 1968). Weber, Max, Essays in Sociology (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964). Weber, Max, “Religious Rejections of the World and their Directions” in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2002). Western, Bruce and Christopher Muller, “Mass Incarceration, Macrosociology, and the Poor,” The ANNALS of the AAPSS, 647 (May 2013), pp.166-189.
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Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Ömer Turan This is me

Publication Date May 1, 2014
Published in Issue Year 2014 Volume: 11 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Turan, O. (2014). Rationalization in Weber and Habermas: A Comparative Perspective on a Macrosociological Concept. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(1), 13-40.

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