Despite, or perhaps because of, Weber's influence on modern economics and sociology, aspects of his work have been criticised.

During his own lifetime, Weber was critical of the neoclassical economic approaches of authors such as Carl Menger and Friedrich von Weiser, whose formal approach was quite different from his own historical sociology. The work of these authors eventually led to the creation of the Austrian School of economics. This includes followers of Friedrich von Hayek and, more recently, authors Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. In their pro-globalization book Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, they attack Weber for claiming that only Protestantism could lead to a work ethic, pointing to the "Tiger Economies" of Southeastern Asia. (Likewise, Weber's blending of economics with Calvinism has been satirized by such works as "America's Keenest City" by Mongo.) However, in these debates, it is easy to overlook that the methods advocated by these later generations of the Austrian School are heavily indebted to the work of Weber. His "action sociology", as they called it, was a frequent topic in the "Mises Circle", an influential group headed by Ludwig von Mises, a key figure in the Austrian School. Among the attendees was a student of Mises, the philosopher of sociology Alfred Schutz, who sought to clarify Weber's interpretive approach in terms of the analytic phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. Hence, although Schutz's work, especially The Phenomenology of the Social World (1932), is in effect a profound critique of Weber's method, it is nevertheless an attempt to further it. Hayek also frequently attended these discussions, and the subjective method advanced in his The Counter-Revolution of Science: Studies in the Abuse of Reason(1952) reflects these influences. Ludwig Lachmann, a later member of the Austrian School, made explicit the Austrian School's indebtedness to the Weberian method. Austrian School economist Carl Menger Carl Menger Carl Menger (February 28, 1840 – February 26, 1921) was the founder of the Austrian School of economics. ... The Austrian School is a school of economic thought that rejects economists overreliance on methods used in natural science for the study of human action, and instead bases its formalism on a logic of action known as praxeology. ... Friedrich von Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek (May 8, 1899 in Vienna – March 23, 1992 in Freiburg) was an economist and social scientist of the Austrian School, noted for his defense of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism against a rising tide of socialist and collectivist thought in the mid... Daniel H. Yergin (born February 6, 1947) is an American author and economic researcher. ... Dr. Joseph Stanislaw is a leading adviser on international markets and politics. ... Economic Tiger - the name of a country with rapid economic growth, used for South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan (East Asian Tigers) and also for Ireland (the Celtic Tiger). ... Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ... Alfred Schütz (1899-1959, aka Alfred Schutz) was a philosopher and Austria and studied law in Vienna, but moved to the United States in 1939, where he became a member of the faculty of the New School for Social Research. ... Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 - April 26, 1938, Freiburg) was a German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology. ... Ludwig Lachmann Ludwig Lachmann (1906 - 1990) an Austrian economist who was an important contributor to the Austrian School. ...