ABSTRACT
In recent decades Max Weber has become known as a major proponent of social action theory, but his writings have been translated into English in bits and pieces in such a way that the total aspect of his work has been obscured. This chapter outlines the principal approaches that serve to put into relief the methodological controversy in the social sciences. In the context of the social sciences, the romantic revolution has had a profound impact on the development of the academic disciplines of history, geography, and anthropology. The Methodenstreit is concerned with the relations between the historical and theoretical approaches in the social sciences. It arose within the field of what was called political economy. "Pure" economic theory of eighteenth and nineteenth century derivation, in Weber's opinion, expresses primarily the "idea" of a historically given society which is uniquely oriented on the principles of rational action, namely, modern capitalism.
