Elective Affinities of the Protestant Ethic: Weber and the Chemistry of Capitalism

Although scholars have long recognized the importance of "elective affinity" as a key word in Weber's sociology, surprisingly little systematic research has gone into understanding this metaphor in Weber's writing, or the source from which he drew the term. For Weber, this was an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological theory 2010-03, Vol.28 (1), p.108-126
Main Author: McKinnon, Andrew M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affinity
Asceticism
Audience
Audiences
Capitalism
Chemicals
Chemistry
Essays
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
History and organization of sociology
History and present state
History, theory and methodology
Literary criticism
Materialism
Metaphor
Protestant Ethic
Protestant ethics
Scholarship
Scholarships
Social interaction
Social relations
Social theories
Sociological theory
Sociology
Sympathy
Vocation
Weber, Max
Weber, Max (1864-1920)
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Summary:Although scholars have long recognized the importance of "elective affinity" as a key word in Weber's sociology, surprisingly little systematic research has gone into understanding this metaphor in Weber's writing, or the source from which he drew the term. For Weber, this was an implicit reference to Goethe's novel, well known to Weber's educated German audience, entitled Elective Affinities (1807). In this article, I provide a systematic account of Goethe's conception of elective affinity as a chemical metaphor, and of the way that it is related to Weber's uses of the term in the Protestant ethic essays and in his critical rejoinders. By understanding elective affinity as a Goethean chemical metaphor we can better understand the causal claims that Weber makes in his famous essay: Weber's argument is best understood as an analysis of emergence in the chemistry of social relations.
ISSN:0735-2751
1467-9558
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2009.01367.x