In the judgment of their gifted young contemporary György Lukacs, Weber's achievement in the sociology of culture "was possible only on the foundation created by Simmel." From Simmel's Probleme der Geschichtsphilosophie Weber drew solutions to some of the methodological dilemmas which vexed the previous generation of German scholars—the synthesis of positivism and neo-Kantian idealism, and the articulation of a methodology of Verstehen and ideal types. In Philosophie des Geldes Weber found a model for sociological analysis that was both penetrating and restrained, and a provocative interpretation of the all-pervasive effects of rationalization in modern society and culture.

XREF: Connects Max Weber's methodological and sociological framework to Georg Simmel's influence, an often underemphasized intellectual lineage.

XREF: Connects to broader intellectual history of early sociology — the debt Weber owed to Simmel for methodology of Verstehen and ideal types.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 112