The German social scientist Max Weber initiated modern sociological thought and his historical and comparative studies are a landmark in the history of sociology. Weber was interested in charting the varying paths taken by universal cultural history as reflected in the development of the great world civilizations. In this sense, he wished to attempt a historical and analytical study of the themes sounded so strongly in Hegel's philosophy of history, especially the theme, which Weber took as his own, of the "specific and peculiar rationalism of Western culture." Weber's detailed training as a legal and economic historian led him to reject simplistic formulas of economic base and corresponding cultural superstructure that were so often used to account for cultural development and were a strong part of the intellectual environment of Weber's early years as student and professor. He went beyond Hegel and Marx to create a comparative study...