„At the beginning of my sociology studies from 1976-1983, to which economics was added as a double degree, the writings of Marx and Engels were on everyone’s lips, Weber was considered by many to be a reactionary – towards the end of my studies, which lasted more than a decade, it was the other way around, although there were also regular Weber lunatics among the actually pluralistic group of professors and lecturers in Frankfurt at the beginning. The tendency to rank behind great minds is also widespread in academia.

At the beginning of my studies, I often made myself unpopular by suggesting to study Weber's works, although his Protestantism thesis always seemed unconvincing to me, I actually considered him a reactionary politically and his tragic outlook on history to be rather exaggerated. Weber, however, impresses not only with his detailed knowledge and his, in my opinion, inevitably failed attempt to integrate explanation and understanding, but also with his universal-historical horizon and his almost prophetic power of speech, which always resonates with the fate and the soul-engrossment of human beings. Fortunately, he did not adhere at all to the prohibition of value judgments, which is often followed and also frequently misunderstood, not only by adepts.“ (H. Peukert)