Early Sociology of the Business Enterprise: Max Weber's Theory of the Modern Business Enterprise in Economy and Society

A review of the secondary literature on chapter 2 of Economy and Society, with the title Sociological Categories of Economic Action, reveals that the structure and content of the chapter have not yet been convincingly explained. It is argued that the structure and content of the chapter can be explained as the unfolding of a sociological theory of the modern business enterprise. Some of the most important features of Weber’s theory of the modern business enterprise are presented. Weber points to the multidimensional institutional embeddedness of the modern business enterprise and to the crucial importance of ongoing tensions between formal and substantive rationality. Weber’s theory of the modern business enterprise in chapter 2 of Economy and Society may then be seen as an important but still unexplored early contribution to a sociological theory of the modern business enterprise.