Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This brilliant study opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through the conflict of opposites. Instead, Weber relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan determination to work out anxiety over salvation or damnation by performing good deeds - an effort that ultimately encouraged capitalism.

Considered one of the founders of modern sociology, German sociologist and historian MAX WEBER (1864-1920) long studied the impact of religion on culture-is most famous work is 1905's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism-but he was also renowned as a thinker on economic issues. Here, in this classic collection of lectures first published in English in 1927 and translated by American economist Frank Hyneman Knight (1885-1972), Weber brings his keen and lively sociological eye to the history of commerce, money, and industrial endeavor, discussing: . agricultural organization and the problem of agrarian communism . the house community and the clan . the evolution of the family as conditioned by economic factors . the condition of the peasants before the entrance of capitalism . capitalistic development of the manor . stages in the development of industry and mining . the origin of the European guilds . the factory and its forerunners . forms of organization of transportation and commerce . money and monetary history . the meaning of modern capitalism . the first great speculative crisis . citizenship as an economic concept . the evolution of the capitalistic spirit . and much more.

Unavailable in an decent, affordable edition for many years Weber is one of the most important social scientists of the last two centuries and responsible for extremely important theories such as the 'protestant ethic' His work is taught in sociology departments around the world General Economic History is his major work on the history of capitalism and stands in a line of incredibly distinguished other big books on capitalism, such as Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and Marx's Capital, to whom Weber is often compared This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Keith Tribe Weber's Conceptual Preface appears here for the first time in English, translated by Keith Tribe

Max Weber wrote these methodological essays in the closest intimacy with actual research and against a background of constant and intensive meditation on substantive problems in the theory and strategy of the social sciences. They were written between 1903 and 1917, the most productive of Max Weber's life, when he was working on his studies in the sociology of religion and Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Weber had done important work in economic and legal history and had taught economic theory. On the basis of original investigations, he had acquired a specialist's knowledge of the details of German economic and social structure. His always vital concern for the political prosperity of Germany among the nations thrust him deeply into discussion of political ideals and programs. Weber's methodology still holds interest for us. Some of its shortcomings, from the contemporary viewpoint, may be attributed to the fact that some of the methodological problems that he treated could not be satisfactorily resolved prior to certain actual developments in research technique. These few qualifications aside, the work remains a pioneering work in large scale social research, from one of the field's masters.