Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures

<b>A new translation of two celebrated lectures on politics academia and the disenchantment of the world.</b><br><br> The German sociologist Max Weber is one of the most venturesome stimulating and influential theorists of the modern condition. Among his most significant works are the so-called vocation lectures published shortly after the end of World War I and delivered at the invitation of a group of student activists. The question the students asked Weber to address was simple and haunting: In a modern world characterized by the division of labor economic expansion and unrelenting change was it still possible to consider an academic or political career as a genuine calling? In response Weber offered his famous diagnosis of &#147;the disenchantment of the world&#148; along with a challenging account of the place of morality in the classroom and in research. In his second lecture he introduced the notion of political charisma assigning it a central role in the modern state even as he recognized that politics is more than anything &#147;a slow and difficult drilling of holes into hard boards.&#148;&#160;<br><br> Damion Searls&#146;s new translation brings out the power and nuance of these celebrated lectures. Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon&#146;s introduction describes their historical and biographical background reception and influence. Weber&#146;s effort to rethink the idea of a public calling at the start of the tumultuous twentieth century is revealed to be as timely and stirring as ever.