MAX WEBER 1864 - 1920

Source: Turner et al The Emergence of

Sociological Theory and Ivan Sezelény
 Birth and Family
• first of seven children, was born to Max and Helene Weber on
April 21, 1864.
• city of Erfurt in Thuringia. Thuringia (Central Germany) was
located in Prussia, the most powerful of the German states at that
time.
• Weber descended from Protestants on both sides of his family.
His father’s ancestors were Lutheran refugees from Austria, and
his mother’s forebears were Huguenot (hyoo-guh nose) emigrants
from France. They are French Protestants generally Calvinist who
suffered persecution from Catholics
• Weber’s Protestantism weighed heavily on him. It tormented him and
eventually motivated him to write one of the greatest sociological
analysis The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
• Weber’s father, a lawyer and judge in Erfurt, became a politician in
Berlin, where the family moved in 1869.
• In Berlin, the elder Weber began his political career as a city
councillor and subsequently served as a member of the Landtag
(Regional Assembly) and the Reichstag (Imperial Parliament).
• In this context, the Weber family entertained a wide assortment of
distinguished people
 His Father
• Weber’s father enjoyed the freewheeling lifestyle of a German politician, with
its emphasis on material success, its lack of religiosity, and its rough- and-
tumble world of gossip, deals, and accommodation.
• He was a hedonist, a man who enjoyed bourgeois living to the fullest. Within
the family, however, the senior Weber ruled absolutely.
• He did not tolerate young people holding opinions different from his own and
felt compelled, as a patriarch, to control his wife’s behaviour in myriad ways.
• The elder Weber was nonetheless devoted to his children, supervising their
education and taking them on outings in the countryside.
• During his youth, the young Weber was close to his father, an orientation that
would later change.
 Mother
• Weber’s mother was altogether different from her husband.
Helene Weber, a shy and sensitive woman, was religiously
devout.
• Helene Weber adhered to strict Calvinist standards of hard
work, ascetic behaviour, and personal morality, which she
tried to instil in her children.
• “She was never satisfied with herself and always felt
inadequate before God,” resulting in a life marked by great
inward struggle.
• His parents were mismatched and they became permanently
estranged very early in their marriage, a conflict that affected Weber
throughout his life.
• Indeed, he believed that he had to choose between his parents and
that this choice would be decisive for his own personality
development.
• This “choice” became a source of emotional agony throughout
Weber’s life.
• In fact, some have argued that Weber’s sociological writings are an
attempt at working through his inner conflicts.
 Childhood and Youth
• Weber was a sickly child.
• May have contracted meningitis when he was 2 years old.
• left him smaller and less physically capable than other
children.
• Nonetheless, he was intellectually precocious.
• His youthful letters, many of which survive, are filled with
reflections on the classical Greek and Roman writers as well
as on the philosophers Johann Goethe, Benedict de Spinoza,
and Immanuel Kant.
• Weber’s conversations at home also ensured that he
became politically sophisticated at a very young age, a
characteristic that apparently made him a discipline
problem in school, where he thought the level of
instruction too low and the ignorance of his classmates
appalling.
• the nature and use of authority preoccupied him
throughout his life, both personally and intellectually.
• In 1882, Weber graduated from the gymnasium (high school)
and enrolled at the University of Heidelberg.
• Like his father, he chose the law as a field of study and
professional training.
• In addition, he also studied economics, history, philosophy, and
theology.
• Sociology was not offered at that time. Weber became active in
his father’s fraternity, joining in the ritual duelling and drinking
bouts characteristic of German university life in those days.
 His Aunt
• In 1883, Weber served an obligatory year of military service
and, during that period, came under the influence of an aunt,
Ida Baumgarten (his mother’s sister).
• Stronger and more forceful than her sister, Ida Baumgarten
led a simple and ascetic religious life.
• she helped Weber understand and appreciate his mother’s
Christian piety.
• As a result, Weber began to identify with his mother rather
than his father.
• 1889 he completes his Ph.D thesis. Two dissertation one in law and
one in history.
• The law Ph.D was on commercial law in Medieval Italy, and the
history was on agrarian history in Rome.
• 1897 first ever altercation with his father, his father dies in 2 days
and Weber suffers a serious nervous breakdown. For 5 years Weber
could not teach, could not write, could not read.
• 1902 he’s coming out of his nervous breakdown and returns to
Heidelberg, though he never really took on very regular teaching
duties anymore.
• 1904, he had his only trip to the USA. He went to the St. Louis World Fair
and wrote a wonderful paper at that time.
• 1913-19 he is working on religion especially in response to criticism he got
for his book on The Protestant Ethic–and he tries to defend his work by
looking at various world religion.
• He shows that rationalization did not take place in these religions as much
as it happened in Christianity
• Later between 1914 – 20 he starts working on his magnum opus Economy
and Society which he never publishes.
• Dies in 1920.
 Max Weber’s Work
• Early works (before 1897 breakdown) mainly on
antiquity.
• 1903-04: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism.
• 1913-1919 work on world religions, China, India and
Judaism.
• 1914 – 1920 Economy and Society. It was unfinished, his
wife Marianne later edited and published it.
 Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism: Main contribution
• There is an elective affinity between Protestantism
(especially Calvinism) and capitalism.
• History of mankind is the history of rationalization. Modern
world is rational, but it is iron cage of bureaucracy.
• In later works Weber writes of ‘disenchantment’: the way
individuals under modern conditions experience life –
Weber’s way to formulate what was ‘alienation’ in Marx.
• Weber is a liberal in despair.
 Marianne Weber’s life and work
• Marianne’s grandfather was Karl Weber, a brother of Max
Weber Sr. Karl’s daughter, Marianne’s mother married
Eduard Schnitger, a provincial medical doctor. Hence
Marianne and Max were sort of second cousins.
• Marianne was an important intellectual and a feminist. Her
book on ‘Wives and mothers in the evolution of law’ was
published in 1907 and was reviewed by Emile Durkheim,
who by and large ignored Max Weber and Weber
reciprocated and ignored Durkheim.
 Weber’s nationalism and WW-I
• Max Weber in 1914 was an ardent nationalist. He supported the war,
but became disenchanted as he began to see the horrors of the war.
• His experience with the war turned him into a liberal in despair.
• He believes that capitalism is only viable system we can live in and
modernity has no alternative.
• He also shows the downside of this modernity. He could not come
out with an alternative.
• He saw the disenchantment – the loss of magic in the modern world
and the horrors of the modern world.
 Weber’s nationalism and WW-I
• But his nationalism did not vanish, after Germany’s defeat he called
for Germany’s renewal under strong leadership.
• This is interpreted by some (Lukas) as call for charismatic authority.
• He was a consultant of the delegation at Versailles peace treaty and
supported the insertion of Article 48 into the Weimar constitution, If
public security and order are seriously disturbed or endangered
within the German Reich, the President of the Reich may take
measures necessary for their restoration, intervening if need be with
the assistance of the armed forces.” which was used by Hitler to
gain power.
Economy and Society: Theory of Domination
• The main contribution of this work is the development of a theory of
domination.
• Power + Legitimacy = Domination.
• He develops a theory of human history as subsequent types of
dominations – opposed Marx’s History based on the mode of production.
• There are 3 main types of domination in history. – depending on what
rules elicits obedience.
1. Traditional
2. Charismatic
3. Legal – rational
THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND
THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
 1903-04
• As he recovers from the nervous breakdown, his first major
book is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
• And that’s in many ways a major departure.
• Before the nervous breakdown, Weber is an enthusiast pro-
capitalist and pro-liberal.
• His major concern before 1897 is what blocks the
development in the eastern part of Germany, and how those
forces which block the development of capitalism can be
overcome.
• He was working at a time when Marxism was the dominant
intellectual force in Germany.
• The Social Democratic Party in Germany was gaining ground
and beginning to do extremely well–at elections as well.
• And therefore Max Weber’s project is to challenge Marxism in
fundamental ways – He knows only reductionist Marxism
• And The Protestant Ethic is a first and major step in the
direction to challenge Marxism.
 Marx-Weber debate
• Historical Materialism and its evolutions: Marx suggests that it’s only
economic forces which explain history.
• But Weber says that ideas matter too.
• Weber says you cannot deduce ideas and cultural features from economic
conditions.”
• Human motivation: not just economic, can be tradition and values.
• Marx has no problem what motivates human beings: survival, economic
interests.
• Weber said, No, we are not only motivated by economic interests, we are
also motivated by tradition; we can be motivated by values. He has a more
complex notion of human motivation.
 Marx-Weber debate
• Not modes of production: But types of authority.
• History cannot be described as subsequent modes of production.
• What changes is the nature of power; the different type of motivation.
• What changes from time to time historically, how people, in position
of power, what kind of claims do they make for you to obey, and how
one internalize it - the principles of your subordination.
• And he develops these different types of authorities Three major
types: traditional authority, charismatic authority, legal- rational
authority.
 Marx-Weber debate
• Class: historically specific, based on market, importance
declines over time.
• Weber uses the term of class, but he said they are not
based–you should not identify class on property
relationship, but on marketplaces, and Marx made an error
by believing that class has always existed in history.
• Class is a new phenomenon which emerges only with
modern marketing integrated economies; market
economies.
 Major Themes of Protestant Ethic
• Empirical evidence of correlation between capitalism and Protestantism. But No
proof of causality.
• He offers some empirical evidence there is a correlation between being rich and
being Protestant.
• Well this is no proof of causality; it’s a kind of prima facie evidence, what he does.
It is probably the weakest part of the book.
• The Spirit of Capitalism – he ask the questions - what is the spirit of capitalism -
the world of capitalism.
• Luther conception of calling
• The religious foundation of Worldly Asceticism - and how Reformation brings this
by; and, in particular, the interpretation of it in Calvinism, and the teaching of
predestination
 The Correlation between Capitalism and Protestantism
• …business leaders and owners of capital… are
overwhelmingly Protestant’ (p. 35)
• But are they capitalist because they are Protestant or they are
capitalist since they inherited wealth? The answer is by no
means so simple as one might think’ (p.36)
• Looking at the data, and it turns out that Protestant countries
were probably ahead of Catholic countries in capitalism.
• And look at the very wealthy people, and you will see more
Protestant than Catholics.
 The Correlation between Capitalism and Protestantism
• He himself is a bit unclear about this, because he does not
quite know what causes what.
• Is this somehow people, Protestants inherited more wealth,
or because they are Protestant they can create more wealth?
• But, you know, if you are looking at American history, there
is certainly prima facie evidence for this.
• The nineteenth century United States belonged to WASP:
White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.
• And then there were the poor people coming in. And they
were The Irish and the Italian.
• And what was their religion? Roman Catholic.
• The late nineteenth-century U.S., this kind of empirical
evidence is pretty persuasive.
• But otherwise this would not stand up for scrutiny.
 What is the Spirit of Capitalism
• What is unique about capitalism,
• that the greed is turned into an ethical imperative.
• And the other one is that the essence of capitalism is rationalism and calculation.
• Well greed turned into an ethical imperative. A very interesting point, because as we
have seen Marx does not offer any explanation why on earth suddenly the capitalists
start accumulating capital.
• Marx does not have a theory to explain the motivation of original accumulation of
capital. He only said original accumulation of capital is a kind of theft.
• But Protestantism, especially Calvinism has ‘this-worldly’ tendencies, while
Catholicism is ‘other-worldly’
• There is an elective affinity between this worldly worldview and the spirit of
capitalism.
 What is the Spirit of Capitalism
• Weber says that it is interesting Because in most history, people like us,
who are working day and night, and, you put our little money in some kind
of savings PPF.
• Most of you in this class will never have much fun, you will be working
day and night to make more money.
• Where does this attitude come from? He said this is unique for capitalism.
• This is unique for modernity, because greed, to become rich, became an
ethical imperative.
• People of non-capitalist societies would say why don’t they relax? Since
they have enough to eat, they can have some fun.
 Greed turned into ethical imperative
• Greed is the essence.
• And he said it has a lot to do with rationalization of modernity.
• It has a lot to do with Calvinism, and predestination, and Luther’s
notion of calling.
• The ideal type of capitalistic entrepreneur … has no relation
to….climbers. He avoids ostentation and unnecessary expenditure, as
well as conscious enjoyment of his power…. His manner of life is…
distinguished by certain ascetic tendency…
• He gets nothing out of his wealth for himself, except the irrational
sense of having his job well done’ (p.71)
 The Spirit of Pre-capitalist man
• Pre-capitalist man actually could not understand us.
• They had to work day and night because they needed it in order to
survive. But once they had enough food to eat, and they had shelter, they
were not running after money any longer.
• This is something which is unique for modern man. “The capitalist system
needs this devotion to the calling to make money.”
• It is for us an ethical imperative.
• Well to what extent predestination,. But if you are very rich you will say,
“Well I have to get richer, because I am doing good by becoming rich,
because I’m creating jobs for others. What a good person I am.” Right?
That’s why you want to become rich, to be–to create jobs for others.
 The Spirit of Pre-capitalist man
• But it is just that which seems to the pre-capitalistic men so
incomprehensible…. That anyone should be able to make it the
sole purpose of his life-work, to sink into the grave weighted
down with great material load of money and goods, seems to
him explicable only as a product of a perverse instinct… (pp. 71-
72)..
• The capitalist system needs this devotion to the calling to make
money….(p.72)….[In contrast t]he conception of money-making
as an end in itself…..as a calling, was contrary to the ethical
feelings of [pre-capitalistic epoch]… (p.73)
 The Spirit of Capitalism: Calculation
• Well capitalism begins with rational economic calculation, which did not
exist before capitalist times.
• he kind of departs here from Adam Smith, for whom rational calculation was
always there.
• People were just not rational – Weber.
• Weber said now this is a uniquely historical phenomenon, that we’re
beginning to calculate effort and return against to each other.
• And we invent double bookkeeping.
• This is what we spend in terms of money and our energy, and this is our
return, this is our profit which appears.
• So rational economic calculation is the key of our capitalist spirit
 The Spirit of Capitalism: Calculation
• An attempt has been made….to depict economic rationalism
as a salient feature of modern economic life as whole…
• Labour in service of a rational organisation for the provision
of humanity with material goods has without doubt always
appeared to representatives of capitalistic spirit as one of the
most important purposes of their life work…..
• Similarly it is one of the fundamental characteristics of an
individualistic capitalist economy that is rationalised on the
basis of rigorous calculation…..(pp. 75-76)
 The Spirit of Capitalism: Calculation
• So there are 2 things –
1. A person is good if he/she works hard to make money.
Therefore it’s an altruistic act that you can become
rich.
2. To be a capitalist you need to be aware of your income
and expenditure and they need to balance them…
bookkeeping.
 The Spirit of Capitalism: Rationalism
• There’s a big tendency for history that we are becoming
increasingly rationalized.
• And he said, “Only naïve historical materialism assumes
that ideas originate as reflection of economic situation.”
• He said, “The spirit of capitalism was present before the
capitalist order.”
• You had to invent rationalism and rational calculation
before you could have capital accumulation and capitalism
as such.
 The Spirit of Capitalism: Rationalism
• It might thus seem that the development of the spirit of capitalism
is best understood as part of development of rationalism as a
whole, and could be deduced from the fundamental position of
rationalism on the basic problems of life. In that process
Protestantism would only be considered in so far as it had formed
a stage prior to the development of a purely rationalistic
philosophy’ (p.76).
• [Only]…naïve historical materialism….[assumes that] ideas
originates as reflection….of economic situations….[T]he spirit of
capitalism…was present before the capitalistic order (p.55)
 Luther’s Conception of Calling.
• This-worldly view.
• Luther’s traditionalism.
 Luther’s Conception of Calling
• This-worldly view.
• It’s a big change from Medieval Catholic theology. Luther coined the
term Beruf in translating the Bible into German. And the term Beruf has
multiple meanings.
• In English it is translated as calling;
• In German Beruf has the very pedestrian, simple meaning of occupation
• So if you are filling out a questionnaire, a German language
questionnaire, for the line ‘occupation’ stands ‘Beruf’.
• But Beruf is also a call. Ruf is to call, in German. So Beruf is that you–
God calls you. You have to do something for God. This is Beruf.
 Luther’s Conception of Calling
• And why is God calling you? To perform well in your occupation.
• So while in medieval asceticism the essence of life was afterlife.
• You were a saint when you withdraw from your life. You hardly ate anything. You
become a saint because all what you eat is an egg a day, and you still survive.
• This is sainthood, in the Medieval Roman Catholic sense.
• Now this is no good any longer.
• Luther said you have to be active in this life, in your occupation.
• That’s when you are a saint, not when you withdraw yourself from life and wait for
afterlife.
• This is the big innovation of Luther and theology.
• God wants you is to fulfil your duties in this world–rather than to be a saint, not to
consume, withdraw, and so on and so forth.
 Luther’s Traditionalism
• Luther is also a traditional theologian. and Weber notes that. In fact, his
emphasis on Beruf means that you have to perform in the job what you
have, in the social position what you have.
• This is not a theory for change. It is a theory for the reproduction of the
status quo.
• And Luther actually stood up against the peasant revolutions in Germany
of his time and sided with political conservatives.
• And therefore Weber suggests that this non-dynamic view of history made
it impossible for Lutheranism to become the real moving force, and
therefore it remained too traditionalistic, and that’s why you needed
Calvinism.
 Why Calvinism ? Elimination of magic
• that magic is being eliminated.
• What was magic? That we have power over God; we could force
God to do something for us. There were prescriptions what we
do, and these were magical means by which you have magic– the
magician comes to performs miracles and you have rain.
• Now in order to rationalize the world, you have to get rid of
magic. The world becomes rationalized. You understand where
the rain is coming from, and you know there is hardly anything
you can do to make it rain
• And this is what you see in a Calvinist church they don’t
have any pictures of saints - it has a coldness of
rationalism in a Presbyterian church
 Predestination and this-worldly asceticism
• Calvin assumed–and this is basically to try radically to get rid of any notion of
magic–that in fact whether you will be saved or you perish was decided upon your
birth by God; there is nothing you can do about this.
• So therefore in Medieval Roman Catholic churches (this is what Luther was
revolting against) - Unfortunately there were some corrupt Roman Catholic priests
who said, if you give me money, then you will go to heaven, rather than to hell.”
• So people could buy their way into salvation.
• Now Calvin said, “No way. You can’t do anything.” Not only not giving money to
the priest, which was obviously corrupt and the church never approved it; it was just
kind of corrupt practices of individuals.
• But he said, “There is nothing you can do in life, because it has been predestined.”
 Predestination and this-worldly asceticism
• The big question is how on earth this teaching actually can create the
Protestant work ethic? Why do we work hard, if it has been decided, pre-
decided, before us that we will perish or will be saved? Well this will
come out actually from the preaching of Calvinist ministers; actual
practices, pastoral practices.
• How do you know whether you are going to heaven or not? Well there is
one way to do it. Work hard, and if your work will be rewarded, this will
be a sign that God loves you and you will go to heaven.
• So therefore you are working hard, not in order to buy your way into
heaven, but in order to have the sign of God that you are on the right
trajectory and you will go to heaven.
 The decay of Protestant Ethic and capitalism today
• One of the fundamental elements of modern capitalism……rational
conduct on the basis of idea of calling….was born…from the spirit
of capitalism… (p.180)
• [But this is challenged by today]: ‘the Puritans wanted to work in a
calling; we are forced to do so…this order is now bound to the
technical and economic conditions of machine production which
today determine the lives of all the individuals who are born into
this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with economic
acquisition, with irresistible force….[This can be see as] an IRON
CAGE’ (p.181)
WEBER ON RELIGION IN NON-
PROTESTANT SOCIETIES
Weber on Religion in non-Protestant societies
• Weber argued that religions could adopt two types of orientations towards the
world.
• Salvation could be achieved either through engagement with the world - inner-
worldly.
• Or through withdrawal from the world or indifference to the world outer-
worldly.
• One could seek salvation through an active pursuit of godliness or, in Weber's
terms, being ascetic.
• Or through passive resignation and acceptance - which Weber calls being
mystical.
• This provides four possible types of religions, each adopting a different
worldview and set of beliefs about religiosity
 Mystical religions tend to be dominant in the East
• Buddhism, with its emphasis on meditation, involves ‘the
cool and proud emancipation of the individual from life’.
• It encourages a sense of indifference to material
possessions in favour of the inner life of the individuals
such that it is unlikely to be an agent of social change or
economic development.
 Mystical religions tend to be dominant in the East
• Taoism, a common religion in China and the basis of feng shui, is also
mystical in that it involves a sense of indifference to the world.
• Nevertheless, it is played out in the world. For example, diviners, believed to
have contact with spirits, determine where it is spiritually desirable to build.
• Weber says, ‘no location for a railroad or factory could be suggested without
creating some conflict’ with the diviners and therefore the spirits.
• Weber argued that this acted as a brake on capitalist development in China
which was only released once Chinese capitalism had ‘reached its fullest
power’.
• Taoism was certainly not conducive to producing the rational calculation
characterizing capitalism
 Ascetic
• Catholic monasticism was ascetic and encouraged activity, including hard work,
but followers believed that too much contact with the world impeded the quest
for spiritual purity.
• With an emphasis on activity outside the world, this also was unlikely to
produce social change.
• The same applied to Hinduism, which Weber saw as somewhat ascetic but also
other-worldly.
• In any case, economic development was held back under Hinduism by the caste
system, which prevented social mobility and therefore discouraged any
entrepreneurial activity.
• If you were destined to stay in the same caste for life, then there was little point
in trying to develop and grow a business.
 Ascetic
• Only religions that involved activity inside the world were likely to
produce major social changes such as the rise of capitalism.
• Calvinist Protestantism was one such religion.
• Weber also saw Islam as a religion that encouraged activity inside
the world, and therefore had the potential to produce social change.
• However, he did not think it was conducive to the development of
rationality.
• David Gellner (2009) argues that Weber believed that the influence
of a warrior ethic prevented it from applying a full rationality’.
• One religion that did have a similar ethic to Calvinist
Protestantism was the Indian religion of Jainism.
• Jainism could potentially produce social change, but,
according to Weber, the economic conditions in India
were not fertile ground for the development of capitalism.
• For these reasons, capitalism developed first in Europe
and North America
 Materialism and Weber’s theory
• Weber did not discount the importance of the economy and material
factors.
• ‘It is, of course, not my aim to substitute for a one-sided
materialistic an equally one-sided spiritualistic causal interpretation
of culture and of history.’
• Calvinist Protestantism made capitalism possible, but so did the
technology and economic system of the countries in which it
developed.
• Material factors were as important as ideas in its development;
neither could be ignored in any explanation.
 Religion, modernity and rationality
• Weber gave an explanation for the origins of capitalism and also had a good deal
to say about the likely consequences of the changes produced by the development
of Protestantism.
• Modernity refers to both a historical period and a type of society that is often seen
as developing along with industrialization, science and capitalism.
• Secularization refers to the decline of religion.
• ascetic Protestantism helped to produce modern capitalism.
• With that went an emphasis on rational calculation, since pursuing the maximum
possible profit required an appraisal of the profits that would be produced by
following different lines of action.
• The capitalist would then follow whatever path would produce the greatest profit.
• Weber (1947) distinguished between formal rationality
and substantive rationality.
• Formal rationality involved calculating the best means
to achieve a given end, and the calculations had to be in a
numerical form.
• Substantive rationality involved action designed to
meet some ultimate goal, such as justice, equality or
human happiness.
• Capitalist behaviour put primary emphasis upon the formal
rationality of accounting in the pursuit of profit maximization.
• Substantive rationality, including the morality provided by
religious beliefs, tended to fade into the background in
capitalist societies.
• Rationality would also involve a rational legal system, the
separation of the home and the workplace, rational financial
management, and the emergence of a rational system of
administration’
• Rationality can be at odds with the faith that is required by religion.
• Religions do not expect their followers to try to test their beliefs
scientifically, nor do they expect religious beliefs to be based upon
weighing up the costs and benefits of joining a religious group.
• Followers should simply believe in the truth of their religion.
• In the rationalized modern world, though, Weber thought it would
be increasingly difficult for followers of religion to maintain their
faith.
• Weber was clear that religion would lose its social
significance even if it did not disappear.
• In short, ascetic Protestantism would contribute to the
development of capitalism, which required a rational
approach to social life, which would in turn undermine
religion.
• Protestant religions therefore contained the seeds of their
own destruction.
• Some commentators on Weber have pointed to parts of his work where he
appears to argue that religion would continue to have a role in modern societies
but that the nature of religion would change.
• Kippenberg (2009), discussing a 1917 speech by Weber entitled ‘Science as
Vocation’, argues that Weber believed that individuals might turn away from
traditional religion and instead move towards developing new types of
religious beliefs in which they sought meaning in their personal spiritual
convictions.
• This would help to give a sense of meaning in a disenchanted, rationalized and
increasingly secular world, institutional religion might decline but personal
religiosity and spirituality could still thrive in the private sphere of individuals’
beliefs.
 Weber - an evaluation
• According to Sombart, Calvinism was against greed and
the pursuit of money for its own sake.
• Weber countered this in his time itself and he believed the
doctrine of predestination was not intended to produce
the rational pursuit of profit, but nevertheless that was
one of its unintentional consequences, and the evidence
lay in the way that ascetic Protestants actually behaved.