ABSTRACT
For Weber, modern man is rational man. 1 This chapter lays out the dilemma at the heart
of modern man and modern society, a dilemma contained in Webster’s dual conception of
rational action. 2 By tracing the connections between rational action and masculinity, we
see how the dilemma at the heart of rational action (the relationship between means and
ends) creates not only the dilemma of modern society (formal, bureaucratic, capitalist,
calculating rationality subordinating substantive, ethical, human values and ends-a loss
of meaning in life) but the dilemma of modern man: the cult of masculinity dominating
the man of culture.
