Anti-Minotaur: The Myth of a Value-Free Sociology

Abstract

This is an account of a myth created by and about a magnificent minotaur named Max-Max Weber, to be exact; his myth was that social science should and could be value-free. The lair of this minotaur, although reached only by a labrynthian logic and visited only by a few who never return, is still regarded by many sociologists as a holy place. In particular, as sociologists grow older they seem impelled to make a pilgrimage to it and to pay their respects to the problem of the relations between values and social science.