Max Weber, a German political economist, legal historian, and sociologist, had an impact on the social sciences that is difficult to overestimate. According to a widely held view, he was the founder of the modern way of conceptualizing society and thus the modern social sciences. His major interest was the process of rationalization, which characterizes Western civilization---what he called the "demystification of the world." This interest led him to examine the three types of domination or authority that characterize hierarchical relationships: charismatic, traditional, and legal. It also led him to the study of bureaucracy; all of the world's major religions; and capitalism, which he viewed as a productof the Protestant ethic. With his contemporary, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim---they seem not to have known each other's work---he created modern sociology.
Atilio A. Borón is a political scientist and sociologist. He has been a professor at the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires since 1986. He is a senior researcher at CONICE
Uma Randeria was one of the translators of The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi from Gujarati into English. She has also translated collections of short stories from Russian and Bengali into Gujar
Vasanth Kannabiran is a feminist writer, a pioneer of the Indian women’s movement, founding member of the Asmita Resource Centre for Women and member of the collective, Stree Shakti Sanghatana. S
