Weber in Singapore

Imagine that Max Weber has been resurrected and is on a visit to Singapore. How would he interpret the various facets of Singapore society in relation to his theories and prognosis about the future of modern society?

As we begin the twenty-first century, there is a growing recognition that Max Weber is our foremost social theorist of the condition of modernity. His pre-eminence stems from the scope, the depth, and the intensity, which he brought to this project. In short, Weber sought to explain the place of the modern individual in the world. Behind this deceptively simple foundation, lay a gigantic enterprise. Precisely so then, the beginning of this essay is devoted to underlining and illustrating the principal themes of Weber’s sociological investigations, especially those that would be used in interpreting the various facets of Singapore society. Next, this essay attempts to show how a resurrected Weber would interpret the various facets of Singapore society in relation to his theories and prognosis about the future of modern society. The concluding part offers criticisms, if any, and asks the importance of Weber in this modern age.

Weber, it is often said, conceived of sociology as a comprehensive science of social action. As such, Weber distinguishes between four major types of social action.