ABSTRACT
Theoretically, Max Weber's concept of the ideal type rests on the generalized concept of rational social action, but it tends to become a historical totality concept when applied to research problems. The concept of the ideal type, as developed by Max Weber in his arguments against the economist Carl Menger, is seemingly a generalized concept; actually, however, it is embedded in a historical matrix. Pure economic theory of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century derivation, in Weber's opinion, expresses primarily the idea of a historically given society that is uniquely oriented on the principles of rational action, namely, modern capitalism. Bryce Ryan's paper adds the negative support of Max Weber's thesis in the same way as does Weber's own treatise on the religions of China and India. However, Norman Jacobs goes considerably beyond Weber insofar as he explores the possibility of a genuine capitalistic development in societies which have no part in the Judeo-Christian value system of the West.
