Despite the acknowledged power of his insights, the discipline of sociology has largely neglected the leads given by Max Weber. At the same time it suffers fragmentation and loss of direction. Martin Albrow argues that these are not unconnected happenings. Here the author seeks to uncover the deeper meaning of Weber's work and thus recover a direction for sociology at the same time. He shows that Weber's struggle to establish a science of social reality both advances our understanding of the fate of the individual at the end of the twentieth-century and provides a profound sense of the reality of society. '...a passionate book. It is immensely lucid and erudite, and one of the best English language commentaries on Weber's theoretical work'. R.J. Holton, Sociological Review, No.40, 1992. 'The language is clear and concise - remarkably so, measured against the complexity of its themes. ... Albrow's penetrating insight and sovereignty are those of a mature, even wise, scholar... an important and profound book that should be used in all graduate-level theory courses'. Stephen Kalberg, Contemporary Sociology, Vol 20 No.1, 1991