Capitalism, law and derivation: a critical study on Max Weber

Abstract

This paper aimed to discuss Max Weber’s Economy and Society, from a critical theoretical framework, here understood as Marxist sociology. More specifically, it was carried out the structural analysis of the chapters of the work that concern the sociology of Law and the relations of the legal phenomenon with the economic scope. The critical reference used, in turn, corresponded to Pachukanis’ work entitled General Theory of Law and Marxism, as well as some of his later readings. Throughout the text, the determination of Law through Economy is discussed, although legal interference in Economy is not ignored, as if legal institutions were only secondary developments of economic relations. On the contrary, both for Weber and for Pachukanis, the legal form (the latter’s expression) is essential for the constitution not only of the circulation of commodities, but also for the establishment of production relations themselves. For the German author, rational normativity allows, above all, the predictability of legal relations, which economic enterprises depend on. For the Soviet author, the constitution of individuals as subjects of law is the decisive moment for the exchange of commodities – among which labor power – to be carried out by contract.