Abstract:The concept of Eurasia is a muddle. In this article it is argued, following the British social anthropologist Jack Goody, that the landmass exhibits important commanalities, which date back to the agrarian empires and urban cultures of the Bronze Age. Europe is better understood as the macro-region "Western Eurasia" than as a continent, equivalent to the whole of Asia. This recognition is occluded by scholarship shot through with Eurocentric and Euro-American bias. One of the most influential figures in social theory, the German sociologist Max Weber, epitomises these distortions (fruitful though many of his contributions have been). It is instructive, in the age of Presidents Putin and Trump, to revisit Weber's thesis concerning the affinity between "the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism" as well as his notions of a value-free social science. Rejecting Russian nationalist visions of Eurasia as a zone of Muscovite hegemony, the article proposes instead that the entire landmass has been characterized by a longterm dialectic of market exchange and redistribution. Ideals of responsible government and social-democratic inclusion reached a peak in twentieth-century welfare states; but in the era of neoliberalism, populist reactions to the domination of market capitalism are reversing this consolidation. It is proposed that the accelerating planetary crisis can only be addressed through a renewal of Eurasian unity: a "second Eurasian Age."

中文翻译：

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理解欧亚大陆：对Max Weber和Jack Goody的思考

摘要：欧亚大陆的概念令人困惑。本文认为，继英国社会人类学家杰克·古迪（Jack Goody）之后，该大陆表现出重要的共通性，可追溯到青铜时代的农业帝国和城市文化。欧洲被认为是“西方欧亚大陆”的宏观区域，而不是整个亚洲的大陆。这种承认被以欧洲为中心和欧美倾向而产生的奖学金所遮盖。德国社会学家马克斯·韦伯（Max Weber）是社会理论中最有影响力的人物之一，概括了这些扭曲现象（尽管他的许多贡献是卓有成效的）。在普京和特朗普总统时代，重新审视韦伯关于“新教徒伦理与资本主义精神之间的亲和力”的论断是有益的。以及他关于无价值社会科学的观念。这篇文章拒绝了俄罗斯民族主义对欧亚大陆作为莫斯科霸权地区的看法，而是建议整个大陆以长期的市场交换和再分配辩证为特征。在20世纪的福利国家，负责任的政府和社会民主包容的理想达到了顶峰。但是在新自由主义时代，民粹主义对市场资本主义统治的反应正在逆转这种巩固。有人提出，只能通过更新欧亚统一来解决加速的星球危机：“第二次欧亚时代”。相反，该文章提出，整个大陆以长期的市场交换和再分配辩证为特征。在20世纪的福利国家，负责任的政府和社会民主包容的理想达到了顶峰。但是在新自由主义时代，民粹主义对市场资本主义统治的反应正在逆转这种巩固。有人提出，只能通过更新欧亚统一来解决加速的星球危机：“第二次欧亚时代”。相反，该文章提出，整个大陆以长期的市场交换和再分配辩证为特征。在20世纪的福利国家，负责任的政府和社会民主包容的理想达到了顶峰。但是在新自由主义时代，民粹主义对市场资本主义统治的反应正在扭转这种整合。有人提出，只能通过更新欧亚统一来解决加速的星球危机：“第二次欧亚时代”。