E d i t o r ' s Column: "Incredible Goings-On" M a x Weber in P e n n s y l v a n i a JONATHAN B. IMBER

In Memory of E. Digby Baltzell In explaining the "calling" of capitalism as an ethical duty in contrast to an "at best ethically tolerated" activity, Max W e b e r w r o t e , "But in the b a c k w o o d s small bourgeois circumstances of Pennsylvania in the e i g h t e e n t h century, w h e r e business t h r e a t e n e d for simple lack of m o n e y to fall back into barter, w h e r e t h e r e was hardly a sign of large enterprise, w h e r e only the earliest beginnings o f banking w e r e to be found, the same thing was c o n s i d e r e d the essence of moral c o n d u c t , even c o m m a n d e d in the name of duty" (Weber, 1930:75). For many decades, Pennsylvania has taken a bad rap for its seemingly lesser contrib u t i o n to national strength, w h e n c o m p a r e d to, for example, Massachusetts. Digby Baltzell w e n t to great lengths in establishing the thesis that Puritan Boston s u c c e e d e d in ways that Quaker Philadelphia did not. As o n e of his f o r m e r students and graduate teaching assistants, I wish to take brief and affectionate e x c e p t i o n to this claim about Pennsylvania, living as I do n o w in Massachusetts, but having b e e n born and raised, until the age of fourteen, in the Keystone State. My empirical evi dence is dem onst rabl y slight; I shall argue for its symbolic weightiness, nevertheless. In so doing, I h o p e to challenge the thesis that bowling alone is a national probl em , while confirming that whate v e r kind of village it takes, y o u ' v e got a friend in Pennsylvania. D e m o g r a p h e r s of American p o p u l a t i o n and migration tell us that Pennsylvania leads the list o f states in which, if you are born there, you are most likely to remain there. Alaska stands at the o t h e r end of that cont i nuum . (My thanks to Lee Cuba for this empirical tidbit.) What does it mean to be born s o m e w h e r e and n e v e r to leave? And w hat does it mean to n e v e r leave in a national c o n s u m e r culture in w h i c h one Wal-Mart is like the next? As Digby Baltzell always taught, Tocqueville's great enthusiasm about America's voluntary associations was well f o un d ed . The "fact" of Wal-Mart (and w h a t e v e r h o m o g e n i z a t i o n of desire it may r e p r e s e n t ) is far less i m por t ant sociologically than what goes on around WalMart, including the itinerant carnivals that set up in the parking lot; the large, Imber

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cardboard posters announcing forthcoming visits by a host of less than national celebrities, people of w h o m we sociologists have never heard; sign-ups for information about everything from nail care to franchise opportunities; and pleasant older men and w o m e n , hired by Wal-Mart, offering c o u p o n s and taste-tests. Would Tocqueville have turned his nose up at such activities? I doubt it. Would he have applauded such activities as the "essence" of community? I doubt that, tOO. Netsurfing to http://www.wal-mart.com/store_info/storesframe.html will provide a listing of all of the Wal-Marts in the United States. Pennsylvania has 48 stores, plus 6 Supercenters; Massachusetts has 25. The general population of Pennsylvania is over 12 million; of Massachusetts, just over 6 million. In this regard, Wal-Mart must not think that the residents of Pennsylvania or Massachusetts require more or less than equal access to their store shelves. If the spread of national c o n s u m e r habits, in this instance, is demographically just, then we must look elsewhere for evidence of the "stay" factors that keep Pennsylvania at the top of the list of states where birth determines residence. I believe that I have found such evidence, if only symbolically. In 1935, the Antique Automobile Club of America was founded in Philadelphia, and for sixty years has been publishing a bimonthly magazine, Antique Automobile. Periodically, the magazine provides a listing of "Regions and Chapters" of the club. In Vol. 59:3, May-June 1995, for example, the state of Pennsylvania boasted fortythree regions and chapters (when a region has more than one group), from the Allegheny Mountain Region to the Central Mountains Region, to Kiski Valley Region, to Kit-Han-Ne Region, to the Pocono Region, to the Valley Forge Region, to the Pennsylvania Dutch Region, and on and on. Massachusetts listed one group in New Bedford. A short p h o n e call to the registries of motor vehicles in each state provided the following statistics:

Antique Cars Total Cars

Massachusetts 12,133 4.5 million

Pennsylvania 64,841 9.5 million

Pennsylvania's antique car voluntary associations are obviously far more developed than those (i.e., the one) in Massachusetts: 40 times more clubs; 5 times more antique cars registered. Control this for population, and you still have w h a t we all like to call a significant difference b e t w e e n the two states. W h y should this be so? In his 1996 book, Max Weber: Politics a n d the Spirit o f Tragedy, John Patrick Diggins reviews Max Weber's visit (along with his wife, Marianne, and his colleague, Ernst Troeltsch) to the United States in 1904, comparing it to Tocqueville's visit for the insights that it provided to both men about the future of democracy, indeed, of world history. Diggins's account is spirited and touches on many of those aspects of Weber's visit that speak to us now, including Weber's encounters w i t h America's then abiding "multiculturalism" and the extraordinary hustle and bustle of American cities, including Chicago and New York. It was Marianne

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w h o carefully c o m p i l e d W e b e r ' s i m p r e s s i o n s o f t h e j o u r n e y , a n d a l t h o u g h Diggins d o e s n o t give an a c c o u n t o f t h e i r visit in P e n n s y l v a n i a , t h e d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e i r d e p a r t u r e f r o m P h i l a d e l p h i a f o r B o s t o n says m u c h a b o u t t h e d i f f e r e n c e 350 miles can make: Our departure for Boston was almost fraught with difficulty. You see, the "footballteam" of the University of Pennsylvania was leaving for Boston to fight against Harvard; all 2000 students saw it off at the railway station, and hundreds took the ten-hour trip here. Consequently, that evening the station was inaccessible for hours. The rascals did not let anyone pass. Everyone missed his train and a lady was badly trampled. We then saw the whole thing from our carriage: The alumni [alte Herren] have built a tremendous stone amphitheater for half a million, as big as the Colosseum, with room for 40,000 people. After each "play" there was thunderous chanting by whichever team had been victorious, for all of Boston and a good part of Philadelphia were there. The "City Hall" and the whole town were decked with flags. And w h e n Harvard lost, a profound depression ensued. The big Boston newspapers had half a page about the war in East Asia, three about the presidential election, and eight about the game. Then there were endless interviews with each of the twenty-two young rascals w h o had participated. Philadelphia was illuminated and unanimous in its view that this success far outweighed the trampled lady. Incredible goings-on. (Weber, 1975:301) T h e W e b e r s e n j o y e d B o s t o n m u c h m o r e , w h e r e " t h e y again felt t h a t t h e y w e r e o n familiar soil," e s p e c i a l l y at H a r v a r d . A m o r e d e t a i l e d a c c o u n t o f M a x ' s visits to P e n n s y l v a n i a a n d to M a s s c h u s e t t s s e e m s in o r d e r . P e r h a p s P e n n s y l v a n i a d o e s d e s e r v e p a r t of t h e b a d r a p it gets, at least so far as site visits go. Y e t the s m a l l e r e x p e r i e n c e s of life are useful to c o m p a r e to t h e l a r g e r realities o f h i s t o r y ( o f s o c i e t i e s a n d o f disciplines). N e w England has its "stay" f a c t o r s , t o o . But in this c y b e r - c o m p l e x w o r l d , t h e i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n self a n d s o c i e t y c a n n o t b e left o n l y to t h e a c c o u n t s o f specialists. W h a t o n e b e l i e v e s , w h y o n e b e l i e v e s it, w h o t a u g h t o n e to b e l i e v e , a n d w h y all o f it is w o r t h w r i t i n g a b o u t a n d t e a c h i n g to o t h e r s : t h e s e are q u e s t i o n s t h a t c o n t i n u e to p r e s i d e o v e r us. H o w a r d G. S c h n e i d e r m a n , in his lucid i n t r o d u c t i o n to a collect i o n o f D i g b y Baltzell's w r i t i n g s , c o n c l u d e s : "No e s t a b l i s h m e n t c a n s u r v i v e w i t h o u t d e f e r e n c e , a n d t h e r e c a n b e n o d e f e r e n c e w i t h o u t a c o m m o n l y s h a r e d cult u r e t h a t m a i n t a i n s at least a m o d i c u m o f c o n s e n s u s " (Baltzell, 1994:20). Writ small, t h e s a m e h o l d s t r u e f o r the e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f s o c i o l o g y .

I did n o t h a v e t h e g r e a t h o n o r or g o o d f o r t u n e to k n o w E d w a r d Shils, b u t I h a v e h a d t h e p l e a s u r e to k n o w s o m e o f his s t u d e n t s o v e r t h e years. I a m d e e p l y g r a t e f u l to t h e t h r e e p e r s o n s w h o willingly c o n t r i b u t e d t h e i r r e m e m b r a n c e s o f h i m as a s o c i o l o g i s t , a t e a c h e r , and a man. Shils's e s s a y o n R o b e r t Park, r e p r i n t e d h e r e , a p p e a r e d first in Italy in 1994, and so m a y still b e u n f a m i l i a r to m a n y s o c i o l o g i s t s w h o w o u l d b e n e f i t f r o m h a v i n g it available. I t h a n k J o s e p h Epstein, Luigi T o m a s i , a n d S t e v e n G r o s b y for p e r m i s s i o n to r e p r i n t it. It is w e l l w o r t h r e m e m b e r i n g t h e last lines o f this essay: " O u t s t a n d i n g i n t e l l e c t u a l merit, p e r h a p s

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e v e n intellectual g r e a t n e s s , is n o t n e c e s s a r i l y c o n c o m i t a n t w i t h a s e n s e o f res p o n s i b i l i t y to the a c a d e m i c institution to w h i c h the intellectually o u t s t a n d i n g p e r s o n o w e s so m u c h . "

Note 1. I apologize to any reader hoping to find new material on Max Weber's visit to the United States. In compensation, I refer the reader to Weber, 1975; Keeter, 1981; and Rollman, 1993.

References Baltzell, E. Digby. 1994.Judgment and SensibaiCy: Religion and Stratification. Edited, and with an Introduction by Howard G. Schneiderman. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Diggins, John Patrick. 1996. Max Weber: Politics and the ,Spirit o f Tragedy. New York: Basic Books. Keeter, Larry G. 1981. Max Weber's Visit to North Carolina. The Journal o f the History o f Sociology 3 (Spring/ Summer), No. 2:108-114. Rollman, Hans. 1993. *'Meet Me in St. Louis': Troeltsch and Weber in America. ~ In Hartmut Lehmann and Guenther Roth, eds., Weber's Protestant Ethic. German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., and New York: Cambridge University Press. Weber, Marianne. 1988 [1975]. Max Weber: A Biography. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

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