ABSTRACT
Max Weber has often been depicted as a rationalist thinker who did not acknowledge the role of emotions for social action. To contrast with this image, the chapter shows the theoretical significance of Weber’s sociology of emotions. Starting from social action, emotional action is seen as the most important reason for the breakout of new frames of interaction in pre-modern societies. Charismatic power is the most developed social structure based on emotional action. However, its endurance is limited in time. If the social group wants to outlast the immediate period of emergency, everyday forms of social life must replace the charismatic ties. Emotions thus can stimulate the development of social relationships, but in the long run they have to be replaced by other forms of action such as tradition or rationality. This assumption could lead to the claim that, especially in modern times, the role played by emotions is vanishing in the social domain. Yet, in considering Weber’s sociology of religion, this assumption may be contradicted in a surprising way.
