Max Weber's sociological approach to contemporary agribusiness: The application of key terms (rationalization, iron cage, disillusionment) in the social context of the contemporary age

Vitezović, Ivan and Subić, Jonel and Simonović, Zoran (2026) Max Weber's sociological approach to contemporary agribusiness: The application of key terms (rationalization, iron cage, disillusionment) in the social context of the contemporary age. Balkanske sinteze, 13 (2). pp. 9-20. ISSN 2406-1190

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Abstract

Max Weber's sociology does not belong only to history, as the work of one of the classics of sociology. The terms that originate from his sociological approach – rationalization, iron cage, disillusionment of the world, class, bureaucratization – are a very powerful analytical tool that can be used to understand social relations in contemporary agribusiness and today's global agricultural production. The importance of these terms lies primarily in the following: to show the mechanisms that govern social relations in agribusiness, to provide an understanding of the social consequences of such mechanisms, to anticipate possible negative effects, to shape a narrative, a discourse for the scientific consideration of the issue of food security and the countryside. Weber's key sociological insight relates to the rationalization of agricultural production, the process by which households focus on profit as the primary goal of their activity, thus abandoning the old business ethic of a patriarchal community. This insight serves as a reference in this paper on the basis of which modern agribusiness can be reconsidered. This paper is a contribution to connecting the old sociological concepts that belong to Weber as one of the classics of sociology, with the contemporary social reality of agribusiness, by referring to his works as references and to other scientific literature that deals with the application of his thought in the contemporary social context.

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