Routledge Revivals

This work, first published in 1990, reissues the first thorough examination of the essentially masculine nature of Max Weber''s social and political thinking. Through a detailed examination of his central texts, the author demonstrates Weber''s masculine reading of ''social life'' and shows how his work advocates a masculine form of life that poses a challenge to contemporary women and to feminism. In particular, she addresses the patriarchal implications of Weber''s belief in the need to relegate the ethic of brotherly love to a private sphere in order to make possible rational action and the achievement of greatness in the public sphere.