Bismarck’s Orphan: The Modern World and Its Destiny, from “Disenchantment” to the “Steel Cage”
Bismarck’s Orphan: The Modern World and Its Destiny, from “Disenchantment” to the “Steel Cage”

Summary/Abstract: The major contribution of Max Weber, according to the author, is to be seen in the concept of the “modern world” and its destiny as a society based on rational calculation. Such modern rationality is technically equipped and formal from a logical point of view. It provides a link between desired social goals and available resources to reach them. It is also a challenge for the decision-making power groups, unable to face the consequences of such rationality that begins as a liberation from traditional values and ends up in some sort of “steel cage”. Weber does not seem capable of suggesting a way out of this social and political contradiction.

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