Max Weber

Weber was born in Germany in 1864, to parents who were

Protestant.
In 1905 he published his most famous work, The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He returned to teaching in
1918 and died in 1920. He is considered the father of modern
sociology.

What is the Spirit of Capitalism?

Preliminary observation of Weber: Protestant Countries in Europe are
wealthier than Catholic Countries
In Capitalism greed is turned into an ethical imperative. (Greed as
distinct from mere excessive consumption)
Marx, the chief critic of capitalism doesnt explain why capitalists start
accumulating capital. Marx cannot explain the motivation behind
original capitalist accumulation (except to call it theft).
Weber is not a historical materialist (i.e., Marxist). He proposes an
alternative explanation for how capitalism got started.

Capitalist Spirit Continued

Capitalism is marked by a kind of attitude of working
incessantly and reinvesting the profit.
The question is: why dont they enjoy themselves? Why
not relax, have fun? Pre-capitalist man would not have
understood this need. Earn enough to eat, and then
enjoy would have been their ethic.
This attitude is unique for capitalism, and is a uniquely
modern phenomenon.

Spirit of Capitalism Continued

Second Capitalism is represented by rationality and calculation.
Rational economic calculation is according to Weber a historically new
emergence (Adam Smith thought it always existed). We do double
entry bookkeeping. We measure our profits against our efforts.
Capitalism got rid of magical thinking. That it didnt matter whether
you pray for rain. Rain happens naturally. There is nothing you can do
about it. (Predestination?)
You have a calling to work at a particular job

Pre-Protestant Christian Teachings:

Economic Traditionalism
Catholicism stressed different religious
values:
It is easier for a rich man to get into heaven
than a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle (Matthew 19: 23-24).
Give your wealth to the poor.
Work until immediate needs are met, then
enjoy life with family and friends.
Striving to accumulate profit is seen as a sin
of desire and greed.

The Protestant Ethic

How it differs from Catholicism

An ideal type, which is the heart of the spirit of

capitalist culture
What is your calling?
Luther used the work Beruf (calling). An action
orientation idea of a calling- individual must view
work/accumulation of profit as a spiritual calling.
Hard work is a sign of Gods favor
Doctrine of predestination our paths to heaven or
hell are predetermined by God- allowed justification
of class system. Puritans in North America.
Denial of worldly asceticism Work hard, but dont
play hard. Save and invest to accumulate more.

John Calvin, 1509-1564

 What Weber argued, in simple terms:

According to the new Protestant religions, an individual was
religiously compelled to follow a secular vocation (German:
Beruf) with as much zeal as possible. A person living according to
this world view was more likely to accumulate money.
The new religions (in particular, Calvinism and other more
austere Protestant sects) effectively forbade wastefully using
hard earned money and identified the purchase of luxuries as a
sin. Donations to an individual's church or congregation were
limited due to the rejection by certain Protestant sects of icons.
Finally, donation of money to the poor or to charity was generally
frowned on as it was seen as furthering beggary. This social
condition was perceived as laziness, burdening their fellow man,
and an affront to God; by not working, one failed to glorify God.

The Secularization of the Protestant Ethic

(Elective Affinity)
Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his
labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends
but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the
only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings
besides.[...]Remember, that money is the prolific, generating nature.
Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. Five
shillings turned is six, turned again is seven and threepence, and so on, till
it becomes a hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it produces
every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. He that kills a
breeding sow, destroys all her offspring to the thousandth generation. He
that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even
scores of pounds.

Weber continues argues against the idea that the spirit

of capitalism is just a reflection of economic reality.

Protestant Ethic Spirit of Capitalism

based on Economic Rationalism
Modern Capitalism
Far from automatically reflecting an economic base,
he says, it was quite extraordinary that this ethos
emerged, given that striving for financial gain is
considered to be low-status, undignified behavior in
most societies...

Where does this spirit of capitalism, this social ethic

of capitalist culture come from?
Weber dismisses the idea that such ideas
originate as a reflection or superstructure of
economic situations this is an explicit
argument versus Marxism.
He uses an example from the United States:
Southern states
founded by large
capitalists for
exploitation
Undeveloped
spirit of
capitalism

Northern states
founded by
preachers, small
merchants &
craftsmen
Highly
developed
spirit of
capitalism

Weber: What is the difference between the Protestant Ethic and

age-old hunger for gold (Auri sacra fames, p. 235)?

Weber emphasizes that he is not saying that

people are not greedy within
traditionalist societies
Yes we find greed
everywhere, in fact lack of
trust often prevents more
But
complex economic
development

greed is usually expressed by the

most unscrupulous, or only in
relations with outsiders. Greed is
not morally regulated within the
community.

i.e. only the Protestants and their capitalist

descendants think that making money can actually be
the sign that somebody is a good person. Because
they connect personal honor with economic
enterprise, they set up a system of rules for pursuing
vigorous trade while being scrupulously honest.

Weber argues that capitalism needed the

Protestant ethic to evolve! (236-237)
(Switchman argument)
Raising wages does not necessarily make people work
harder
a man does not by nature wish to own more and
more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to
live (p. 236-237)
Lowering wages is perhaps more effective, but can
backfire (p. 237).
What capitalism needs is workers with a sense of
calling but such an attitude is by no means a

Recap: the creation of the Protestant

ethic
Legalizes
Acquisition
Protestantis and gives
Gods
m
approval to
asceticism looked
worldly Protestant
upon the pursuit of
asceticism freed
wealth as an end in
moneymaking from the
itself as highly
inhibitions of traditionalistic
reprehensible; but
ethics.
the attainment of it
Now only the enjoyment of
as a fruit of labour in
wealth is considered immoral.
a calling was a sign
of Gods blessing
(241)

Capitalism is an unintended consequence

Protestant emphasis on
mundane tasks and
duties, rather than
enjoyment and luxury,
was summed up in the
notion of the calling.
Protestants
produce more
and spend less
(High productivity
and capitalist
growth.)

Capitalist success
becomes
theologically justified
as a sign of hard
work.

Implications of this Argument

1. What lasts from the theological innovation of the
Protestants is an amazingly good conscience in
the acquisition of money, so long as it took place
legally. Weber calls this the bourgeois economic
ethic.
2. The bourgeois believe that inequality is decided
by God. They develop a double standard, where
they can be rich and stay righteous, but they help
their workforce stay close to God by forcing discipline
and frugality (as well as religion) onto them. (doctrine
of predestination)
3. The spirit of capitalism becomes channeled into
rational economic conduct. We dont need true
religious asceticism anymore, as capitalism now has
its own mechanical foundations, functioning as an

THE IRON CAGE (p. 245)

The puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to
do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic
cells into everyday life, and began to dominate worldly
morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos
of the modern economic order. This order is now bound to
the technical and economic conditions of machine
production which today determine the lives of all the
individuals which are born into this mechanism, not only
those directly concerned with economic acquisition, with
irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until
the last ton of fossilized coal is burnt.
The Protestant Ethic broke the hold of tradition by calling
people to apply themselves rationally to their work. Behavior
had come to be dominated by instrumental rationality, the
efficient application of means to ends, replacing other types of
social action.