Thomas Kemple, “Intellectual Work and the Spirit of Capitalism: Weber’s Calling” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

Aug 16, 2025

Thomas Kemple, a Sociology professor at UBC and author of 'Intellectual Work and the Spirit of Capitalism: Weber’s Calling,' dives deep into Max Weber's legacy. He highlights how Weber’s literary structure enhances the understanding of his sociological ideas and introduces intriguing diagrams that visualize complex thoughts. Kemple explores Weber’s intellectual partnerships, particularly with his wife, Marianne, and connects Weber’s themes to broader cultural influencers like Goethe and Tolstoy. The discussion also touches on the ethics of conviction versus responsibility, enriching our view of modern professions.

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INSIGHT

Weber As Performer

Thomas Kemple reads Weber as a performer whose spoken and written voices are inseparable from his ideas.
Form and content mutually shape Weber's sociology and invite readers to attend to vocal performance.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Sorte Svigiliana Book Game

Kemple describes a playful Sorte Svigiliana ritual of opening his book at random to answer questions.
Carla Nappi tests it and Kemple interprets a passage as advice about creating writing space.

insights

INSIGHT

Diagrams As Talking Pictures

Kemple uses diagrams as 'talking pictures' to condense Weber's arguments into visual metaphors.
He organizes chapters around images (windows, prisms, pendulums) to make Weber's cinematic metaphors explicit.

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Exploring Literature Through Random Insight: The Sorte Svigiliana

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Unveiling Max Weber: Performance and Legacy

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Exploring Sociological Allegory through Goethe's Faust

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Thomas Kemple‘s new book is an extraordinarily thoughtful invitation to approach Max Weber (1864-1920) as a performer, and to experience Weber’s work by attending to his spoken and written voice. Intellectual Work and the Spirit of Capitalism: Weber’s Calling (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) looks carefully at the literary structure and aesthetic elements of Weber’s arguments, considering how the texts offer an “allegorical resource for thinking sociologically.” Kemple argues that the formal structure of Weber’s ideas is inseparable from the content, and that understanding one is crucial for understanding the other. As a way into that formal structure, in each chapter Kemple offers an ingenious visual diagram that acts as a kind of “talking picture,” simultaneously evoking the cinematic elements of Weber’s own work and giving readers another tool for engaging the performative aspects of it. Kemple’s book is particularly attentive to the ways that Weber’s performance is shaped by a close engagement with the work of other writers, musicians, and thinkers, from Goethe and Tolstoy to Machiavelli and Martin Luther, and from the Bhagavadgita to The Valkyries. In addition, Marianne Weber – Max’s “wife, intellectual partner, and posthumous editor” – is an important presence throughout the book in helping us understand and read Weber’s work anew. Kemple’s thoughtful and beautifully written analysis helps us understand not just Weber’s own work, but also the value of that work for attending to issues of our own present.

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