Max Weber and Disenchantment

 

 

This is one of Weber’s most famous quotes referring to the erosion of belief in supernatural powers (religion) resulting in the loss of social significance in magic, myth, and mystery. Conversely, there is an increase in the role of science, technology, and knowledge in the modern world. He states in ‘Science as a Vocation’: “The disenchantment of the world (…) means that principally there are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, master all things by calculation” (1948 [1919]: 139).