Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures

German sociologist Max Weber is considered one of the most adventurous, motivating, and influential theorists of the modern state. Among his most important works are the so-called Preaching Lectures, which were published shortly after the end of the First World War and presented at the invitation of a group of student activists. The question the students asked Weber to address was simple and troubling: In a modern world marked by division of labor, economic expansion, and unrelenting change, can an academic or political career still be considered a true calling? In response, Weber gave his famous diagnosis of "disappointment in the world," along with a difficult description of the place of morality in the classroom and in research. In his second lecture, he introduced the concept of political charisma, giving it a central role in the modern state, even as he realized that politics is more than anything else "a slow and hard digging of holes in the hardboards". Damion Searls' new translation highlights the strengths and differences of these famous lectures. An introduction by Paul Ritter and Chad Wilmon describes their historical and biographical background, reception, and influence. Weber's efforts to rethink the idea of ​​public advocacy at the turbulent start of the twentieth century were revealed more timely and agitating than ever before.