Beyond the Spectre: The Socialist Project Under Weber’s Skeptical Gaze

Abstract

Several important authors argue that Max Weber’s work can be understood, fundamentally, as an ongoing polemical dialogue with Marxism. This critical relationship encompasses both the theoretical dimension of historical materialism and socialism as a political ideology. This documentary research focuses on this second aspect to trace and analyze Weber’s expectations regarding a society with a socialist government and economy. The aim is to examine the author’s critical stance toward socialist ideas in general and German social democracy in particular, through
the analysis of his Political Writings and his magnum opus, Economy and Society. Contrary to interpretations that minimize his political assessments, this paper argues that Weber had a deep interest in politics and that his liberal-bourgeois position permeates his understanding of capitalist society. The divergence in political stance between Marx and Weber constitutes, from our perspective, the decisive factor in understanding their theoretical discrepancies —whether philosophical, sociological, economic, or historical. Among the conclusions, it is noted that a rigorous analysis of the dimensions structuring the Weberian reading of Marx and Engels reveals that Weber did not intend a theoretical assimilation or integration, but rather to articulate a qualitatively different theoretical counter-offensive.