Estudios de la Economía

[Sí hay interesad@s por ahí a acceder vía zoom envía un email a José Ossandón]

Organization als Verband. A Seminar with Keith Tribe on Weber’s Economy and Society

Guest: Keith Tribe is a leading authority on Weber, a noted historian of economic and social thought and an accomplished translator of (among others Max Weber, Reinhart Koselleck, and Wihelm Hennis). He recently translated Max Weber Economy and Society.

Program: Introduction by the organizers. Thomas Lopdrup-Hjorth & José Ossandón, Department of Organization. Talk by Keith Tribe 30-40 minutes. Discussion

Description: The publication of a new English translation of Max Weber’s Economy and Society (Harvard University Press 2019) is the perfect opportunity to re-assess the impact of Weber on organization studies. Of course, as every organization theory textbook explains, Weber has a secured place in the cannon as the main figure behind the classical theory of bureaucracy. This seminar will focus on a different and less explored issue. As Keith Tribe explains in his translator’s introduction, a key but often unnoticed concept in Economy and Society is the notion of Verband which translates as organization.

Verband is more general than what we normally expect with the term organization. Bureaucracy and the modern capitalist firm are instances of this more general category. It is also, however, much more specific than, for instance, notions like “organizing” or even “institution”. Organization [Verband] refers to social relationships where “the observance of its order is guaranteed by the behavior of particular persons specifically charged with its implementation, such as a director and, quite possible, of an administrative staff” (Weber 2019: 129). Economy and Society provides a conceptual apparatus for a deeply comparative study of organization, that, does not need to get lost in more general sociological processes.

Some of the issues we expect to discuss in this seminar are: what is Verband and what is the status of this concept in Weber’s work? and, more speculatively, how would organization studies be if they were Studies of Verband?

Time and Date: November 18th 2021, 15.00 – 16.30

Location: Copenhagen Business School, Kilevej 14 A, 2000 Frederiksberg Room: KL 3.54
And on Zoom

Format: Hybrid. Keith Tribe will participate via Zoom, Thomas & José will be in the meeting room KL 3.54