The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of CapitalismThe Protestant ethic — a moral code stressing hard work, rigorous self-discipline, and the organization of one's life in the service of God — was made famous by sociologist and political economist Max Weber. In this brilliant study (his best-known and most controversial), he opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through "the struggle of opposites." Instead, he relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan determination to work out anxiety over salvation or damnation by performing good deeds — an effort that ultimately discouraged belief in predestination and encouraged capitalism. Weber's classic study has long been required reading in college and advanced high school social studies classrooms. |
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acquisition activity ascetic asceticism attitude Baptist Baxter Beruf Bible bourgeois Brentano calling Calvinism Calvinistic capitalistic Catholic Catholicism certitudo salutis character characteristic Christian Church Compare concept conduct connection culture discussion doctrine of predestination dogma economic edition emotional emphasis England English enterprise especially essay ethical expressed fact faith flesh Franklin fundamental German glory God’s grace hand hence Herrnhut historical idea ideal important individual influence instance interest Jansenists labour later Luther Lutheran means mediæval Mennonites Methodism modern monastic moral motives movement natural one’s organization passage peculiar Pietism political practical predestination predestinationists principle Protestant Protestantism psychological purely Puritan Puritan Divines Quakers rational Reformation religion religious repudiation result Ritschl salvation Savoy Declaration sects sense Septuagint seventeenth century significance Sirach social Sombart Spener spirit of capitalism Synod of Dordrecht Talmud tendency Theologische Bedenken theology things to-day translation true view-point wealth Weber’s whole worldly asceticism Zinzendorf