Give Theory A Chance: Erin McDonnell on Max Weber
n this episode we are joined by Erin Metz McDonnell, Kellogg Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and author of the recently published Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States. Erin introduces us to the “budgetary unit”–a powerful, but under-utilized Weberian term–and discusses how she expands Weber’s theorization of bureaucracy through her fieldwork in Ghana.
Erin also offers valuable reflection on what it means to be engaging with texts that are now over a century old in both her research and her teaching.