The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

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Revision as of 09:55, 27 September 2011

The book ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ was written by the German sociologist Max Weber in 1905. He wrote about the relation between capitalism in the northern part of Europe and the religion of this part of Europe.

The majority of northern Europe was Protestant and these people had different ethics then others. Weber found the origins of these ethics related to the Reformation, a revolt of the Protestant against the Roman Catholic Church and her ideas about salvation and assurance of that (Mok, 2009).

The leading persons of the Reformation were Martin Luther and John Calvin. They argued that there was nothing like an assurance for salvation. The Protestants believed that in the beginning, already before creating the earth, God decided who to save for eternity, apart from actions and the free will of humans. So, the Protestants started searching for a sign, to know they were ‘selected’. You can’t influence the decision God made and for all Protestants and it was absolutely necessary to believe you were chosen and to act that way. You had to act with self-confidence (Kilcullen, 1996).

Worldly success in combination with sober living were seen by the Protestants as ‘manifestations of grace and divine power’ (Campbell, 1981, p.176). Because of this mentality Calvinists didn’t spend their money for luxury etc, so as a result they put it back in business. And Calvinists saw their jobs as a ‘calling’ so they worked very hard and precise cause of a religious duty. This change in mentality and way of religious thinking and rational calculation caused a different economic system (Kilcullen, 1996), a system of Capitalism.

Published by Jobke Heij (s4049713) on September 27th, 2011

References

Campbell, T. (1981). Seven Theories of Human Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Chapter 8: Max Weber: An Action Theory. pp. 169-189.

Kilcullen, R.J. (1996). Max Weber: On Capitalism’’. [1]

Mok, A.L. (2009). Max Weber en het Calvinisme. [2]

External Links

Giddens, A. & Held, D. (1982). Classes, Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates. Berkeley, University of California Press. [3]

Weber, M. (1905). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [4]