Weberian problems in the social and historical sciences

Thematic issue edited by Tadeusz Szawiel

Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 15 February 2024

Weber’s work encompasses a wide range of problems in the social and historical sciences. At the same time, his works are classics, and a classic work is one in which we can find answers to our own questions. We are looking for texts that are devoted to Weberian topics and problems and that are written from the viewpoint of the authors’ own research and theoretical interests. These should be texts that confront Weber’s analyses with the current state of research while also examining Weber’s inspirations (how Weber transformed them and used them in his research and theoretical analyses) and considering the extent to which Weber’s specific theoretical and methodological proposals may (or may not) provide answers to our own theoretical and research problems.

Example thematic areas:

• methodology of the social sciences, e.g., values as an object of social science research, understanding and explaining behaviour, the causal explanation of an individual fact;
• conflicts of values and the ultimate foundations of life in the analysis of today’s politics, economics, religion;
• the scholar’s current vocation at the university and in the public space;
• the sociology of governance in the analysis of political phenomena, e.g., the question of the role and sources of the success or failure of populist leaders, or the theory of types of governance and the aetiology of contemporary populist parties and movements;
• Weber’s theory of the state and modern bureaucracy as a helpful tool in responding to the problems of modern states;
• theses about the spirit of capitalism – its presence or absence in today’s economic systems;
• degrees and trends of rejecting the world: tensions between universalistic religions and the orders of values adopted in the world (eroticism, economics, politics, etc.);
• theses about the disenchantment of the world due to the emergence of new forms of spirituality, including non-religious ones;

/// The deadline for submissions is 15 February 2024. Submissions containing the title, an abstract not exceeding 500 words, and the author’s first and last name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address should be sent to: redakcja@stanrzeczy.edu.pl

/// The editors will inform authors about the acceptance or rejection of their abstracts by 1 March 2024.

/// Articles, not exceeding 1.5 sheets (60,000 characters) and edited according to the technical requirements of the journal, should be submitted by 15 July 2024.

/// In July 2024 (the exact date will be announced soon), the editors of State of Affairs and the Department of Sociology of the University of Warsaw are planning a research conference on “Weberian Problems in the Social and Historical Sciences,” at which it will be possible to present the texts submitted to the journal.

/// The issue is scheduled to be published in November 2024.