Reason and the rationalization of society

Abstract

Translator's Introduction. Author's Preface. I. Introduction: Approaches to the Problem of Rationality. 1. - A Preliminary Specification. 2. Some Characteristics of the Mythical and the Modern Ways of Understanding the World. 3. Relations to the World and Aspects of Rationality in Four Sociological Concepts of Action. 4. The Problem of Understanding Meaning in the Social Sciences. II. Max Weber's Theory of Rationalization. 1. Occidental Rationalism. 2. The Disenchantment of Religious-Metaphysical Worldviews and the Emergence of Modern Structures of Consciousness. 3. Modernization as Societal Rationalization: The Role of the Protestant Ethic. 4. The Rationalization of Law: Weber's Diagnosis of the Times. III. Intermediate Reflections: Social Action, Purposive Activity, and Communication. IV. From Lukacs to Adorno: Rationalization as Reification. 1. Max Weber in the Tradition of Western Marxism. 2. The Critique of Instrumental Reason.