Of all the major authors sociologists like to claim for their discipline, Max Weber has proven to be the most intractable. The difficulties are partly intrinsic to his work, yet in no small measure they are also linked to the particular circumstances of his emergence as a figure of central importance for post-classical sociology. This rise to prominence owes a great deal to Talcott Parsons's groundbreaking effort aimed at consolidating sociological thought within the unitary framework of a selfconsciously synthetic, general, and comprehensive theory. This project obviously could not be all things to all people. The convergence hypothesis underlying The Structure of Social Action essentially had the effect of downplaying the extent to which Weber sided with the German historicists' profound rejection of Anglo-French positivistprogressivist-generalizing social science. Instead, he was made to come off as an author in the process of transcending the particularism of his national tradition toward a more universal position.