Max Weber represents an unusual and instructive example of a thinker who in his own time was relatively unknown, but who in our era has become internationally prominent. Today his work is widely cited not simply in the human sciences and halls of academia but also in the arena of public discourse. The change seems remarkable. How did it come about? What explains this kind of recognition, and what is the basis for Weber's present reputation? Under what conditions did it become possible for us to speak about a distinctive kind of intellectual commitment associated with Weber's name – a Weberian theory, a Weberian analysis or “paradigm,” even a “Weberian Marxism” or an “analytical Weberianism?”

Anyone who has studied Weber's thought closely and knows his writings well will be tempted to answer that the reason lies in the power of the thought alone. We may want to assert that the texts speak for themselves and justify the author's fame. Or we may insist that the questions he raised, the significance of the problems he addressed, and the depth of his insights provide a sufficient rationale for his present- day reputation. But such an answer comes all too easily. A more complex and contingent process becomes apparent when we consider the actual historical circumstances, the cultural and political context and the social relationships characterizing the reception of Weber's work.

The most obvious way to answer our questions is to propose a provisional thesis: in order to understand the “Weber phenomenon,” we must understand what occurred with Max Weber and his work in the United States starting in the 1920s. The work of translation and interpretation proceeded simultaneously elsewhere, especially in Japan, though also in Mexico. However, considered from an international perspective, the crucial developments relating to the permanent “institutionalization” of the thought took place primarily in key university circles in the United States. The transmission of ideas over long periods of time is surely advanced by institutional mechanisms and pedagogies that survive for generations. The reading and use of Weber's texts was promoted by exactly this kind of long- term institutional support.