Max Weber and China: Culture, Law and Capitalism

International Conference:

Max Weber and China: Culture, Law and Capitalism



Date: 5-6 September 2013 (Thursday and Friday)
Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, College Buildings, Russell Square, SOAS, University of London
Organisers:

Call for papers

Max Weber is not only celebrated as a founder of modern social science but also for his view that modern capitalism was the achievement of a uniquely Western rationalism. His celebrated study of China argued that its legal institutions and ethical and religious culture had prevented a similar development there. But he also drew on his knowledge of China in developing his ideas of bureaucracy, authority and legitimacy.     

The economic success of China over the last thirty years represents for some the biggest challenge yet to Weber's account of its culture, to his theory of capitalism and to the methods he employed in arriving at his account. But it also brings into question the self-image of the West and the idea of modernity. The conference we are announcing will bring scholars from the social sciences and humanities together in a West/East dialogue central both to mutual understanding between China and the West and also to an exploration of the possible varieties of capitalism.

Please note:

  • The conference will have panels and parallel streams on culture, law and capitalism but contributions for a general stream will also be welcome.
  • Your paper can be empirical or theoretical and have a methodological, historical, contemporary or comparative focus.
  • The language of the conference will be English. Abstracts may submitted in any other language but always accompanied by an English translation.

Please go to Submission and registration page for more details.

Programme Committee

Professor Martin Albrow, Chair (Honorary Vice-President, British Sociological Association (BSA); Fellow of Centre for Advanced Study, University of Bonn)
Dr Hong Bo (Senior Lecturer in Financial Economics Department of Financial & Management Studies SOAS, University of London)
Professor John Breuilly (Chair in Nationalism and Ethnicity, Department of Government, LSE)
Mr Ernest Caldwell, Co-Chair (Lecturer in Chinese Law, SOAS)
Dr Xiangqun Chang, Co-Chair(Co-Director of CCPN Global; Research Associate of CCS, SOAS)
Dr Kent Deng (Reader in Economic History; LSE)
Dr Carlos Frade (Chair of Weber Study Group, BSA; Senior Lecturer In Sociology,University Salford)
Dr Athena Leoussi, Co-Chair (Co-Director of European Studies, University of Reading)
Dr Julia Strauss (Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS)
Professor Sam Whimster (Editor, Max Weber Studies; Head of Culture and Modernisation Programme, the Global Policy Institute, London Metropolitan University)