Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a highly influential 1905 book by sociologist Max Weber. The ethic consists of hard work, disdain for leisure, competitive spirit and a profit motive to provide an incentive to achieve.

Argument

Weber argues that the religious values of Protestantism --speciifically Puritan values that emphasize hard work and disparage waste and leisure, contributed enormously to the rise of capitalism and economic success of protestant nations. Protestants saw success in business as proof of predestination, and thus put a heavy emphasis on entrepreneurial activity, as opposed to Catholics, who saw wealth as a sign of sin. Weber focused on the ideology of Calvinism, which held that salvation must be earned, to be a major cause of the rise of capitalism. The specific sect was less important than the shared values of the sects and their minority position in the general culture. He used the life and ideas of Benjamin Franklin as part of his evidence.

Weber's intention was to demonstrate a relationship between Calvinism and a peculiar form of capitalism, not in terms of genesis, but in terms of 'feedback.' Weber granted that the Protestant ethic which he described differed in form and emphasis from that immediately following the Reformation, and that it had altered in response to a developing capitalism. But Weber sought to demonstrate that this altered ethic in turn influenced capitalism, serving as an impetus to its further development to a stage characterized by what Weber called the 'capitalist ethos.' He by no means imputed monocausality, nor did he assume that he had at all explained the origins of capitalism. Rather, he focused upon the institutionalization of the capitalist complex, and here the effect of ideology appeared Vital.

Tests

Coleson (1972) argues that the general thrust of the Weber thesis is supported by examining the record of the last century. Those nations with a work ethic and moral standards that are followed, i.e., capitalist nations, are prosperous, while those with a lazy peasantry, a corrupt government, and no moral code, i.e., the Third World, are still suffering famine and poverty.

Weber's thesis is reflected in the business success of the Yankees in the United States, and the Presbyterians in Scotland, as well as by Protestant Germany. In recent years, however, Catholic southern Germany has outpaced Protestant Germany.

Slavery

Antsley (1979) analyzes the role of religious forces in the formation and expansion of antislavery movements in the United States and Britain and shows the religious influences on the abolition of the British slave trade, the West Indian emancipation, and American antislavery politics. Theological doctrines - Arminianism, redemptionism, sanctification, and postmillenialism - disposed evangelical Protestants to include the slaves among the potentially saved, to hate the institution of slavery, and to strive for earthly reform. Additionally, slavery became a denominational issue, as Anglican Evangelicals, Nonconformists, and Quakers combined to provide the political organization and strategy for abolition and emancipation.

Further reading

• Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) excerpt and text search; another edition; excerpt and text search
• Baltzell. E. Digby. Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia: Two Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Class Authority and Leadership (1979)
• Forcese, Dennis P. "Calvinism, Capitalism And Confusion: The Weberian Thesis Revisited." Sociological Analysis 1968 29(4): 193-201. in JSTOR
• Ghosh, Peter. A Historian Reads Max Weber: Essays on the Protestant Ethic (2008)
• Goldstein, Bernice, and Robert L. Eichhorn. "The Changing Protestant Ethic: Rural Patterns in Health, Work, and Leisure," American Sociological Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Aug., 1961), pp. 557-565 in JSTOR, looks at farmers in the American Midwest
• Gorski, Philip S. "The Protestant Ethic Revisited: Disciplinary Revolution and State Formation in Holland and Prussia," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 99, No. 2 (Sep., 1993), pp. 265-316 in JSTOR, advanced research paper
• Kalberg, Stephen. Max Weber's Comparative Historical Sociology (1994).
• Lehmann, Hartmut, and Guenther Roth, eds. Weber's Protestant Ethic: Origins, Evidence, Contexts (1993)
• Swatos, William H., and Lutz Kaelber, eds. The Protestant Ethic Turns 100: Essays on the Centenary of the Weber Thesis (2005)