A neglected Weberian: Marianne Weber as a theorist of gender

Journal article

Marianne Weber is known today either as the original custodian of Max Weber’s legacy or as a minor player in the German feminist movement. But was her life really so desultory? I suggest that a first and principal clue to Marianne’s identity is her relationship with Max in the years of their marriage. This was founded on a shared belief in personal autonomy and equality, and in a commitment to Wissenschaft and theory. On this shared basis she asserted her autonomy by laying down her own body of theory: a theory of gender relations brought together in her Collected Essays (1919). The feminist movement supplies a context here, but no more. What she does is extremely unusual at this date, either for a man or a woman, and its content is intellectually significant. Here is a body of theory to set alongside that of Mill, Bebel and Simmel.

Authors: Ghosh, P

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Max Web Studies
• Journal: Max Weber Studies
• Acceptance date: 2026-05-20
• EISSN: 2056-4074
• ISSN: 1470-8078
• Language: English
• Keywords: marriage; sexual ethics; academic specialization; part-time work; ethical idealism; Max Weber; Bund deutscher Frauenvereine; August Bebel; Georg Simmel; Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Gertrud Bäumer