This book offers a unique and accessible way of conceptualizing the vocations of art, science, and politics in the capitalist world through an examination of some neglected features of the work of the scholar who first traced their origins and consequences in 'the West': Max Weber.

Thomas Kemple is Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His previous publications include Reading Marx Writing: Melodrama, the Market, and the ''Grundrisse'', and articles in the Journal of Classical Sociology and Theory, Culture & Society.

Introductory Remarks: Sociological Allegory in the Age of Weber PART I: FAUST'S STUDY 1. Polemical Arts of Speaking Sociologically: Weber's Lectern 2. Casuistic Disciplines of Capitalist Science: Weber's Bifocals 3. Narrative Conventions of Political Discourse: Weber's Prism PART II: TOLSTOY'S KEYNOTE 4. Cosmopolitan Ethics of War and Peace: Weber's Machine 5. Resurrecting Charisma: Weber's Pendulum Interim Reflections (In Lieu of a Conclusion): Intellectual Work and the Spirit of Capitalism