Review of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of capitalism
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism(1905; trans. Baehr & Wells 2002) is a pivotal text when considering the sociological and economic development of modern day capitalism. Writing in the beginning of the 20th Century, Weber was a thinker who adopted a more diverse and intricate way of considering society than the rather limited evolutionist or Marxist ways of thinking that were prevalent to his time. In this essay, Weber relates the ethical background of the Reformed religious sects to the development of what he terms the capitalist “spirit”. Weber explains the centrality of the work ethic to the religious ideals of the Protestant sects. At the crux of his argument, Weber associates this work ethic, viewed as a kind of inner-worldly asceticism, as directly causal to the domination of capitalist society in England, Europe, and America. He uses tools such as statistics on higher education and economic success(p.44), and linguistic analysis of the Protestant versus Catholic doctrines. There are many approaches with which we can view this text, however for the purpose of this review it is only possible to address a few. I will therefore limit this discussion to an exploration of the structure and framework of the text, followed by an exploration of the main terms. I will then discuss limitations in Weber’s argument.
Weber uses a framework based around the motivations of the individual subject as the unit of analysis. He uses a combination of ideal types (eg. The capitalist entrepreneur(p.24)) and historical contextualisation to decode the conduct of the individual. This framework directly links the individual subject to the formation of society’s institutions. These two central foci of Weber’s analysis explain the somewhat unusual structure of this essay. Broken into 2 parts, Part I reads much like an extended introduction, addressing important background information such as how Christian denominations related to social strata,
Weber uses a framework based around the motivations of the individual subject as the unit of analysis. He uses a combination of ideal types (eg. The capitalist entrepreneur(p.24)) and historical contextualisation to decode the conduct of the individual. This framework directly links the individual subject to the formation of society’s institutions. These two central foci of Weber’s analysis explain the somewhat unusual structure of this essay. Broken into 2 parts, Part I reads much like an extended introduction, addressing important background information such as how Christian denominations related to social strata,