Cover; Contents; Introduction; Part I: Reconstructing Major Themes; Introduction; 1Max Weber's Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History; General Features of Weber's Types of Rationality and Rationalization Processes; The Types of Rationality: Practical, Theoretical, Substantive, and Formal; Comparing and Contrasting the Types of Rationality; Rationalization Processes in General and Rationalization in Modern Societies.

2 Should the "Dynamic Autonomy" of Ideas Matter to Sociologists? Max Weber on the Origin of Other-Worldly Salvation Religions and the Constitution of Groups in American Society TodayThe Dynamic Autonomy of Religious Ideas: The Problem of Suffering and Religious Development; Part II: Weber's Mode of Causal Analysis; Introduction; 4 The Perpetual and Tight Interweaving of Past and Present in Max Weber's Sociology; The Level of Analysis: Ideal Types and Social Carriers; Weber's Multicausality I: The Broad Spectrum; Weber's Multicausality II: Societal Domains.

What Can Arise: The Importance of ContextThe Perpetual and Tight Interweaving of Past and Present; 5 Macro Comparisons: Precautions, Possibilities, Achievements, and Limitations; Macro Comparisons: Weber's Precautions; Macro Comparisons are Possible: The Usefulness of Ideal Types; Macro Comparisons: Achievements and Limitations; 6 The Theoretical Framework and Causal Methodology; The Theoretical Framework: Ideal Types and Societal Domains; The Causal Methodology.

Part III: Reconstructing Significant Developments from Weber's Oeuvre: The Rise and Expansion of Confucianism, the Caste System, and MonotheismIntroduction; 7 The Rise and Expansion of Confucianism in China; Confucianism's Major Features; Degrees of Causal Centrality: Facilitating and Necessary Patterns of Action; Synchronic and Diachronic Interactions of Patterned Action; The Contextual Dependence of Action-Orientations: Adequate Causality from Conjunctural Interactions; 8 The Rise and Expansion of the Caste System in India.

Degrees of Causal Centrality: Facilitating and Necessary Patterns of ActionSynchronic and Diachronic Interactions of Patterned Action; The Contextual Dependence of Patterned Action-Orientations: Adequate Causality from Conjunctural Interactions; 9 The Rise and Expansion of Monotheism in Ancient Israel; Degrees of Causal Centrality: Facilitating and Necessary Patterns of Action; Synchronic and Diachronic Interactions of Patterned Action; The Contextual Dependence of Patterned Action: Adequate Causality from Conjunctural Interactions; Part IV: Utilizing Weber I: The Importance of Deep Culture.