Rationalization and disenchantment II

the differentiation and de-differentiation of modern culture

pp. 28-44

in: Nicholas Gane, Max Weber and postmodern theory, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002

Abstract

A crucial aspect of the rationalization and disenchantment of the world is the differentiation of modern culture. For Weber, this process accompanies the general movement of nihilism in the West (see Chapter 2), for with the "death" of God worldly values proliferate, separate out and are drawn into endless conflict with one another. This process leads to the formation of a world torn by an infinite number of value-conflicts, for "rational" (scientific) knowledge, which, for Weber, is limited to questions of fact rather than value, is unable to resolve the crisis of values that it itself inaugurated. Weber argues, however, that the differentiation of culture into irreconcilable value-positions is accompanied at the same time by the overarching de-differentiation of values within each modern life-order. This process takes the form of the rationalization of value-positions, and this in turn leads to the increasing homogenization of all cultural forms. The rationalization process is, therefore, deeply tragic in nature, for, while seeming to contain a heterogeneous or postmodern moment (Holton and Turner, 1989), it in fact intensifies the underlying sameness of culture, and with this contributes to the increasing sameness of modern life itself.