Abstract
This chapter substantiates the concepts of metric and nonmetric in a sociologically meaningful way by extracting a material appropriate for this from the writings of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. Their respective works are reinterpreted in non-orthodox (i.e. non-Weberian and non-Durkheimian) ways so as to illuminate certain meta-patterns that are then brought in parallel with the metric/nonmetric distinction. In Weber’s sociology, the tie between action and actor is replaced with a focus on the affinities and antagonisms between types of actions. This uncovers a continuum going from charisma to patrimonialism to the rational-legal authority and the separation of the values-spheres. In Durkheim’s sociology, the universalism of Homo duplex is rejected as false, while the variability implied by the division of labor in society is reemphasized in compensation. This shows that the concepts of individual, society and humanity can take on multiple definitions, and that these definitions co-vary.
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Guy, JS. (2019). Metric and Nonmetric in Weber and Durkheim. In: Theory Beyond Structure and Agency. Palgrave Studies in Relational Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18983-9_4
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