INTRODUCTION: “THE LAST OF OUR HEROISMS”

The historical constitution of a certain type of self and the empowerment of its agency through a complex interplay with political, social, and economic conditions always remain close to the heart of Weber's research agenda. Throughout his vast unorganized opus, Weber appears to be occupied with a distinctive ontology and genealogy of the modern self, which he calls the “Occidental self” in the essays on world religions, the “charismatic individual” in the studies of economy and society, personality (Persönlichkeit) in the methodological essays as well as in his later writings on politics and science, and the “person of vocation” (Berufsmensch) in The Protestant Ethic. These ideal-typical individuals share such characteristics as asceticism, methodical self-discipline, a regimented way of life, and an instrumental stance toward this world (and even toward one's own self) – all culminating in a fanatic zeal for secular activism. From this perspective, Harvey Goldman claims that Weber's study of the “spirit of capitalism” shows more than the appearance of something new in business life. It shows the emergence of a new kind of person and a new kind of power, a new kind of character, a new attitude toward work, or simply a new self.