Editorial: Beyond Weber: Social change between disenchantment and rationalization processes in plural communities

Abstract

More than a century after Max Weber, the issue of axiological neutrality, or in Weber’s terms ‘value-freedom’ in the social sciences, is once again being raised with exceptional acuteness in the realm of education. The freedom to research, publish, teach, and learn a variety of subjects stemming from different and sometimes conflicting value spheres is being hotly contested. For instance, in Palm Beach, Florida, a teacher’s contract was suspended ‘after complaints that he was indoctrinating students during his lectures on racial justice’ (Pelletier et al., 2023). Consequently, ‘Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation ordering Florida state colleges to publicly share the textbooks and instructional materials required for “at least 95 percent of courses” offered in an academic term’ (Pelletier et al., 2023). This measure, in practice supported by the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the ‘Stop WOKE Act’, amounts to ‘unconstitutional classroom censorship that restricts teachers and students from learning about and discussing race and gender’ (Woodward, 2022). Politicians like DeSantis not only try to dictate which among countless thematic subjects should be open to critical reflection and regarded as socially relevant for students’ academic development; they also decide which perspectives should be privileged for discussion in the classroom. Indeed, ‘he accused the university of betraying its values-based mission by being “complacent” on an important topic like race’ (Marcus, 2023) under the pretext that it was politically motivated by woke culture (Marcus, 2023).