The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber in his book has two themes; one is to establish a historical link between the
growth of the Protestant religious doctrines and the development of modern capitalism. The
other is to establish a line of continuity between the protestant ethical maxims and the path
of development taken by Western capitalism in its regulation of economic conduct by the
imposition of restraint and rejection of luxury. The fundamental aim of his study was to
outline the impact of John Calvins religious doctrine and a series of practical motives and
religious precepts that became incentive to the regulation of life.
Webers begins his introductory chapter called the Religious Affiliation and Social
Stratification in which observes the religious demographics of the population in Europe. He
observes that most people in highly skilled and trained professions were Protestants. He
also takes note of the fact that a large number of the richest and most economically
developed areas turned protestant in the 16thcentury. A majority of the wealthy cities were
protestant. He brings to light certain aspects of the Catholic faith that he believes were the
reasons for the lesser demonstration of Catholics, he found that the Catholics emphasised
on learning of languages, Philosophy and history while the Protestants chose more technical
fields of study. Catholics preferred more skill oriented jobs and were lifelong craftsmen
whereas Protestants engaged with industry and moved up the career ladder to become
factory managers. The Catholics in Germany were however an exception to this proposition.
Weber points out that though faiths exhibited unbearable form of control on the believers
life, the reformists contented that the church had too little domination over life rather than
too much. Protestants sought economic rationalism as an inner quality which was criticised
as being material by the Catholics, While the Protestants criticised the Catholics for their
other worldliness. Weber asks the question that whether earning ones living under
capitalism can ever have an inner affinity? He postulates a two part solution for this, one
there has to be business sense and the second, a strong sense of piety.
In the second chapter Weber tries to define the phrase The Spirit of Capitalism. He
provides an illustration of the spirit of capitalism by reflecting on Benjamin Franklins piece
on Money, Credit and Man. Weber is not concerned with the capitalism of the Ancient and
Middle ages that which occurred in China, India and Babylon. He is interested in Modern
Capitalism that occurred in Western Europe and America. Thus the acquisition of money
coupled with the idea of saving was the root of Franklins thought. As long as a business is
carried in a legal manner the acquisition of money manifested competence and proficiency.
The duty to have a vocational calling was not an idea only in modern capitalism but it
became a social ethic of the modern capitalistic culture, Weber argued that it was during

this time that the capitalist economic world order turned to a vast cosmos into which a
person is born. He felt that any trader in order to be successful in the market eventually had
to adhere to this ethic of capitalism. In one of the examples he states how the economic
traditionalism when people wished to live as they have been accustomed to and to earn as
much as required gave way to capitalistic ideas, in a traditional market the customers had
their orders placed via letters to the peasants and subject to availability they would collect
their orders by travelling to the city, this practice however was slowly replaced by the
introduction of an agent where he would travel to the villages and find goods as per the
customer preferences and would deliver it to the customers themselves. He advocates
importance to the frame of mind that Benjamin Franklin propagated in his article.
The third Chapter is concerned with Luthers Conception of the Calling, which forms an
important aspect of the vocational ethic as it served as a good motivator to keep people
engaged in their work. The word calling means a task given by God. It carried with it the
notion of duty and piety to ones individual work. The concept of the calling was a product of
Reformation period, for the first time the worldly activities acquired a moral justification and
attained religious significance; it was a concept that was alien to the Catholic faith. Luther
developed these ideas in the course of the first decade of the reform activities. Weber
however believes that Luther did not have the spirit of capitalism and that he was a
traditionalist. Thus, the idea of the calling in Lutheranism was of limited importance to his
study. What he meant was that the development of capitalism cannot be derived directly
from Luthers attitude to the worldly work. It is in this context that he highlights the
importance of Calvinism.
The Fourth Chapter is called The Religious foundations of Worldly Asceticism. In
this chapter he discusses the major forms of ascetic Protestantism i.e., Calvinism, Pietism,
Methodism and Baptists. He discusses Calvinism in great detail as it forms a fundamental
part of his analysis for the birth of the ascetic life. The fundamental doctrine among the
Calvinists was the doctrine of predestination, that is the belief that the world has been
segregated into two, the ones who are going to heaven and the ones who arent. Therefore,
living an ascetic life in the worldly activities became an important aspect of the faith as it
was the only way one could reassure themselves of their salvation. It dominated their
thoughts and actions. The important aspects of Calvinism was the methodological
organization of lie, testifying to belief in the worldly vocational calling, a puritan goal of
leading an alert, conscious and self aware life, Rejection of the importance of sacraments
and emotional aspects of culture and religion. Calvinist interaction with god was carried out
in spiritual isolation even when one belonged to a specific church; it advocated a systematic
self control and provided no opportunity for forgiveness of weaknesses. Calvinism thus
according to Weber had magnificent consistency and it encouraged systematic living.

The above Calvinist values stands in contrast to the Catholics who believed in redemption
through confession and attaining salvation through sacraments, which were a mechanism
that compensated ones own shortcomings. Lutheranism, on the other hand did not give
importance to the doctrine of predestination, its believers advocated the availability of
grace. According to Weber, this left no push in Lutheranism and thus it had lesser
penetration of asceticism. Pietism on the other hand according to Weber had still stricter
rules of the organized life in ones calling but not everyone was predisposed to have that
experience. The focus of the Methodists according to him was of emotional character
especially in America. The belief in undeserved grace and the certainty of forgiveness were
the foundation of the Methodists; difficulties remained within the Methodists because the
doctrine of predisposition was muddled by the concept of Christian freedom. The Baptists,
another form of the Protestants believed in the personal awakening of an individual, such
members were to avoid the worldly pleasures. They also propagated the notion of living life
with the basic necessities or with as much required, this was not in keeping with the
capitalistic notion of growth.
The final chapter seeks to link the aspect of asceticism and the spirit of capitalism. He
reflects on the writings of Richard Baxter (a puritan) in his final chapter, who writes of his
moral objection to idleness and relaxation as they keep away the faithful from pursuing the
righteous life. Baxter propagates the need for mental and bodily hard work and considers
wasting time as a sin in itself.
Weber argues that asceticisms disengagement with the pleasures of life was most
conducive to the capitalistic way of life. He felt that a life with pleasures pulled people away
from their work and calling. The puritan concept of using money only for the service of god
was another ascetic character that guided the notion of the Protestants.
In conclusion Weber talks of the other areas of life which the concept of asceticism could
have influenced that is not yet studied. He also contends that there could be many other
factors influencing the spirit of capitalism and that his interpretation should not be studied
as the single theory of causal explanation of culture and history.
My thoughts:
The Protestant Ethic was an interesting read because Weber not only builds his arguments
throughout his book but he also constantly guides the reader along by explaining what he
does not intend to say. This is a characteristic feature of this book, it thus avoids the pitfalls
of the reader interpretation i.e., often readers read by trying to understand what they think
the author is saying. This helps to clarify a lot of the ideas that he presents for example he
states that he does not intend to say that the rise of capitalism is a result of the reformation

period in the Catholic Church. Another thing that he states that helps to understand his
theory is that he is only concerned with the analyses of modern capitalism and not with that
of the ancient and middle ages that occurred in India, China and other places.
Webers arguments are well thought through and his linking of values to the understanding
of capitalism is what impressed me most about this book. Normally when one thinks about
capitalism one just thinks about the effects of it and all the economic characteristics
associated with it not necessarily the mechanism of capitalism in terms of values and ideas
shaping it. I however disagree with the notion that only Calvinist principles were driving a
work ethic that is conducive to the growth of capitalism, Weber himself in the end of the
book restates this very claim. Webers guiding principles in which he defines the Calvinist
principles are the necessity of a business ethic and peity, I agree with this understanding,
but I dont think that this is only vehicle for the growth of modern capitalism. Overall, The
book is a good read, especially if you are interested in understanding the link between
religion and economics or just interested in reading prominent work in Sociology