Capitalism and the Weberiana in Russia: Revisiting the Possibilities of Verstehende Sociology. Part 2. An Apology for Capitalism

Capitalism and the Weberiana in Russia:
Revisiting the Possibilities of Verstehende Sociology. Part 2. An Apology for Capitalism


Trubitsyn D.V.

Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Prof., Transbaikalian State University, Chita, Russia dvtrubitsyn@yandex.ru

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Trubitsyn D.V. Capitalism and the Weberiana in Russia: Revisiting the Possibilities of Verstehende Sociology. Part 2. An Apology for Capitalism. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2022. No 2. P. 12-22




Abstract

The paper оffers a critical analysis of the Russian Weberiana applied to problems of contemporary society (social consequences of information technology expansion) and to resolving methodological problems of modern sociology (the problems of “big data and the revolution of archives”). Reasons are given that the principles and the method of understanding sociology actually lead to the rejection of social innovations, not to knowledge. The article criticizes the Weberian evaluation of historical dynamics of non-Western countries (both Weber`s prognoses for the development of capitalism and modern evaluations of their modernization). Another point of issue is the role of capitalism in the modernization process; it is stated (relying among others on the works of M. Weber) that positive values and norms of a modern industrial society are formed by capitalism as a system of relations.


Keywords
modernization; capitalism; methodology; verstehende sociology; Protestant ethics; culture

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Content No 2, 2022