Reinhard Bendix (1916 - 1991) was professor of political science at the University of California in Berkeley, where he has been teaching since 1947. Born in Berlin in 1916, Bendix fled the Hitler regime when he was twenty-two, and came to the United States, where he entered the University of Chicago. There he studied sociology and obtained a B.A. in 1941, an M.A. in 1943, and his Ph.D. four years later. In 1970 he was president of the American Sociological Association. Among his numerous books are Work an Authority (1956), Nation-baking and Citizenship (1964), Embattled Reason (1970), and Kinds or People (1980).

• I. Career and Personal Orientation PART ONE GERMAN SOCIETY AND THE PROTESTANT ETHIC II. Weber's Early Studies and the Definition of His Intellectual Perspective III. Aspects of Economic Rationality in the West PART TWO SOCIETY, RELIGION, AND SECULAR ETHIC: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CIVILIZATIONS IV. Introduction V. Society and Religion in China VI. Society and Religion in India VII. Society and Religion in Ancient Palestine VIII. Max Weber's Sociology of Religion PART THREE DOMINATION, ORGANIZATION, AND LEGITIMACY: MAX WEBER'S POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY IX. Basic Concepts of Political Sociology X. Charismatic Leadership and Domination XI. Traditional Domination XII. Legal Domination: The Emergence of Legal Rationality XIII. Legal Domination (continued): The Modern Sate and Struggle for Power XIV. A Contemporary Perspective XV. Max Weber's Image of Society Index