Reply #59: Those early sociologists are like the early psychologists

[salvorhardin]

A lot of their work is based on assumptions that rose out of their own social culture and Weber is no exception. But it was the birth of a brand new discipline and much of their work is foundational so it's important to understand people like Weber even today, just like psychology students still study Freud. But you're right that textbooks don't put people like Weber into context.

FWIW: I think there's a lot of implicit racism in Weber's work even if Weber himself wasn't overtly racist. For instance, his ideas that only Protestantism could lead to a work ethic (c.f. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism).

How do you feel about Émile Durkheim? A lot of my own views on religion are informed by functionalism even as I understand its' limitations. Actually my ideas are probably more in the vein of the neofunctionalists.