Chance , Orientation, and Interpretation: Max Weber’s Neglected Probabilism and the Future of Social Theory
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The image of Max Weber as an “interpretivist” cultural theorist of webs of significance people use to cope with a meaningless chaotic world reigns largely unquestioned today. This article presents a different image of Weber’s sociology where meaning does not transport actors over an abyss of meaninglessness but rather helps them navigate a world of Chance. Retrieving this concept from Weber’s late writings, we argue that the fundamental basis of the orders sociologists seek to understand is not chaos. Action is rendered interpretable, rather, to the extent persons orient themselves to possibilities, probabilities, or randomness, which remain real but unknowable. In this framework, interpretation and probability are allies not antagonists. Weber’s systematic use of the probabilistic notion of Chance as a central resource for concept-formation and sociological explanation seriously challenges current understandings of probability as a purely statistical, atheoretical concern. We outline the conceptual difference it makes when basic categories of sociology are understood as rooted in Chance, while pointing to the larger implications of Weber’s probabilism for contemporary debates around issues of prediction, action, and interpretation.
Source: Sociological Theory
Authors: Michael Strand, Omar Lizardo
Institutions: Brandeis University, University of California, Los Angeles
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4220982448