Bismarck’s Orphan: The Modern World and Its Destiny, from “Disenchantment” to the “Steel Cage”

Abstract

The major contribution of Max Weber, according to the author, is to be seen in the concept of the “modern world” and its destiny as a society based on rational calculation. Such modern rationality is technically equipped and formal from a logical point of view. It provides a link between desired social goals and available resources to reach them. It is also a challenge for the decision-making power groups, unable to face the consequences of such rationality that begins as a liberation from traditional values and ends up in some sort of “steel cage”. Weber does not seem capable of suggesting a way out of this social and political contradiction.