Overview

Setting the context for the upheavals and transformations of contemporary China, this text provides a re-assessment of Max Weber’s celebrated sociology of China. Returning to the sources drawn on by Weber in The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, it offers an informed account of the Chinese institutions discussed and a concise discussion of Weber’s writings on ‘the rise of modern capitalism’. Notably it subjects Weber’s argument to critical scrutiny, arguing that he drew upon sources which infused the central European imagination of the time, constructing a sense of China in Europe, whilst European writers were constructing a particular image of imperial China and its Confucian framework. Re-examining Weber’s discussion of the role of the individual in Confucian thought and the subordination, in China, of the interests of the individual to those of the political community and the ancestral clan, this book offers a cutting edge contribution to the continuing debate on Weber’s RoC in East Asia today, against the background of the rise of modern capitalism in the “little dragons” of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, and the “big dragons” of Japan and the People’s Republic of China.

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Reviews

“The book is an interesting and reliable contribution to the discourses on contemporary Chinese sociology of religion; as a result, it is warmly recommended to all specialists in the field and to the general reader of Chinese culture, as well.” (Lehel Balogh, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 45 (2), June, 2019) “Max Weber's fascination with China has been well documented … . It is a must read for both Weber scholars and China specialists, and will be of great interest to comparative-historical sociologists. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students/faculty.” (J. Li, Choice, Vol. 55 (9), May, 2018)

The book is an interesting and reliable contribution to the discourses on contemporary Chinese sociology of religion; as a result, it is warmly recommended to all specialists in the field and to the general reader of Chinese culture, as well. (Lehel Balogh, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 45 (2), June, 2019) Max Weber's fascination with China has been well documented ... . It is a must read for both Weber scholars and China specialists, and will be of great interest to comparative-historical sociologists. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students/faculty. (J. Li, Choice, Vol. 55 (9), May, 2018)

Max Weber's fascination with China has been well documented ... . It is a must read for both Weber scholars and China specialists, and will be of great interest to comparative-historical sociologists. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students/faculty. (J. Li, Choice, Vol. 55 (9), May, 2018)

Author Information

Dr Jack Barbalet is Research Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society at the Australian Catholic University, with past appointments in other Australian universities as well as Leicester University and Hong Kong Baptist University. A renowned Weber scholar, Barbalet also publishes extensively on the sociology of China. 

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