Max Weber’s Vision of Economic Sociology zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZ RIC HA RD SWEDBERC * Stockholms Universitet ABSTRACT: Max Weber’s economic sociology is usually associated with The Prot- estant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism ( 1904- 1905), but in this paper 1 show that what Weber himself called his “Wirtschuftssoziologie”, or economic sociology, looked quite different and was something that he developed during the last year of his life, 1919- 1920. I present and outline Weber’s (later) economic sociology and pay particular atten- tion to his ideas of “economic (social) action” and of the three different forms of capi- talism (rational capitalism, political capitalism and traditional capitalism). I also show that to Weber, economic sociology was part of a more genera1 science of economics that he often referred to as “social economics” (“Sozialbkonomik”). The paper ends with a comparison between the paradigm of economic sociology, which can be found in the work of Max Weber, and the paradigm of what is known as New Economic Sociology. Max Weber, as we know, died at a premature age; he was only 56 years old when he succumbed to pneumonia, and never had the time to finish a number of his projects.’ The Economic Ethics of the World Religions was, for example, never completed and Weber never got the time to write his sociology of culture. Another project that he left behind, half finished, was his economic sociology. We know the general structure of Weber’s economic sociology, but it was never fully com- pleted. Actors, to quickly outline its general structure, are basically driven by ideal and material interests, with tradition and emotions playing roles as well. Material interests naturally tend to predominate in the economic sphere, and the study of the economy is divided between different social sciences, depending on what aspect is *Direct all correspondence to: Richard Swedberg, Department of Sociology, Stockholms universitet, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Journal of Socio-Economics, Volume 27, No. 4, pp. 53.5-5.55 Copyright 0 1998 by JAI Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1053-5357