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20 Law & Soc'y Rev. 573 (1986)
Max Weber's Tragic Modernism and the Study of Law in Society

handle is hein.journals/lwsocrw20 and id is 575 raw text is: Review Essay* MAX WEBER'S TRAGIC MODERNISM AND THE STUDY OF LAW IN SOCIETY DAVID M. TRUBEK While Max Weber is revered as one of the patron saints of the law and society movement, his views on the nature and limits of socio- logical studies in law are not fully understood. Using recent analyses of Weber's legal thought (Kronman, 1983) and overall social theory (Alexander, 1983a), the author argues that while Weber set forth the standard, positivist understanding of the sociology of law that influ- ences research to this day, at the same time he critiqued this under- standing and in the end despaired that social science could contribute significantly to human emancipation. Arguing that Weber's tragic modernism is an inappropriate guide for law and society studies today, the author suggests an alternative vision in which the sociology of law is seen as part of a pragmatic enterprise of social transformation. For all of Weber's rationalist proclivities, he despaired about the possibility of rationally grounding the ultimate norms that guide our lives; we must choose the gods or de- mans we decide to pursue. With the disenchantment of the world that results from the ineluctable processes of moderni- zation which destroys the foundations of traditional world- views, we are left with a void. Weber bequeathed to us un- resolved tensions and aporias. (Bernstein, 1985: 5). I. READING THE CLASSICS Those of us who belong to the community of scholars that in the United States calls itself the law and society movement have treated Max Weber as one of our patron saints and re- garded his work on law as among our classics. Weber, who was * A review essay of Kronman, Anthony T. (1983) Max Weber. Stanford: Stanford University Press; and Alexander, Jeffrey C. (1983) Theoretical Logic in Sociology, Volume III. The Classical Attempt at Theoretical Synthesis: Max Weber. Berkeley: University of California Press. This paper was originally presented in 1984 at the Seminar on Legal Ideology, in Amherst, Massachusetts, where the author had the opportunity to discuss these matters in a particularly stimulating environment. Rick Lempert suggested I undertake this project, and provided support and insightful criticism throughout. John Esser gave me invaluable assistance and advice at all stages of the project. Stewart Macaulay, Fernando Rojas, and Jack Schlegel provided helpful comments on an earlier draft. LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Volume 20, Number 4 (1986)

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