Ideen und Interessen. Zum Verhältnis von Religion und wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung

While concentrating on the rise of modern capitalism, Weber’s seminal studies have little to say about the impact of religions on contemporary economic development. The paper comments about recent approaches to find an answer to the questions Weber left open. If one disregards a priori constructions of culturalist and rational-choice-theories, these approaches end up again in restating the circular relationship between ideas and interests showed already by Weber, albeit clearly with a higher emphasis on interests. However, the author argues that it would be premature to interpret this result simply as a confirmation of Weber’s “disenchantment” thesis. Rather, it goes back to the transformation of the economy itself into an entity that preaches “values”, proclaims “visions” and in this sense develops an affinity to religious movements. The author deepens this view by referring to Marx’ and Polanyi’s interpretation of capitalism as a system of disembedded markets. The disembedding of markets gives rise to a historically new potential of social uncertainty which the actors need to cope with, thereby developing symbolisms showing striking affinities with religious forms. Nevertheless, the analogies between capitalism and religion are limited.     

William (Bill) Harrison 1934–2012

Abstract

International textbook initiatives in Southeast Europe are justified by a causal chain linking history textbook to historical consciousness, political and historical acts, and the state of conflict or cohesion within a society. In this article, such initiatives are examined in the following way: after a survey of the literature on textbook initiatives in the region, the content of the materials in question is assessed and compared with the guidelines of the international community's textbook scholars; the concept of 'narrative voice' is then used to evaluate the style of the material and its relationship with the student; the materials are then placed in their social and educational context. Finally, using this project as a springboard, the article is able to cast light on the validity of international textbook initiatives in the region, as well as the underlying methodological assumptions of the discipline.