The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism book review

Imagine your religious leader convinced you that, to be saved, you must devote yourself neither to good deeds nor to spiritual disciplines, but to your professional career and to gaining as much money as possible. The only restriction is keeping your expenses at the minimum level to survive. What do you think would happen if more than half of your countrys population began to live by this creed? ccording to !ax Weber, capitalism would emerge. "ack in #$%&'#$%(, in his most renowned and controversial book ) The *rotestant +thic and the ,pirit of -apitalism ) the founder of modern sociology argued that .uthers /eformation initiated a series of *rotestant and moral beliefs that developed Western capitalism to become 0the most fateful force in our modern life1, much more sophisticated than its 2riental forms. 3efining capitalism as 0the pursuit of 456 forever renewed profit, by means of continuous, rational, capitalistic enterprise1, he also linked the rise of capitalism to the uni7ue organi8ation of free labor that took place in the 2ccident. The author wrote on the spirit of capitalism as an ethic, meaning that the development of the maximum profit behavior in modern days was not due to thirst for power and wealth, but to a moral shift in society9 people began to believe that to accumulate wealth is the right thing to do. -onsidering the strong connection between religion and individuals ethical conduct, shouldnt this mean that some mystical or religious forces must have driven this moral shift? ,ince, in the !iddle ges, -atholicism didnt provide such a profit'friendly ethics, the *rotestant /eformation could be the cause. :rom a statistical survey conducted in a ;erman district, Weber <tendentiously= inferred that Western enterprise managers, capital holders and employees were in ma>ority *rotestants. ?et his conclusions remained sound, as he >udiciously identified the key elements of protestant rhetoric from which the spirit of capitalism derived9 .uthers doctrine and biblical translation of the calling of ;od to salvation as the ;erman noun "eruf <which also means profession=@ the predestination doctrine of -alvin, which unwittingly determined believers to find assurance of salvation in secular asceticism ) devoting to holy life in ones profession. These tendencies were most prominent in the ascetic branches of *rotestantism9 -alvinism, *ietism, !ethodism, "aptism and *uritanism, reaching global proportions. Thus, 0the /eformation took rational -hristian asceticism and its methodical habits out of the monasteries and placed them in the service of active life in the world.1 s a result, large numbers of -hristians were religiously compelled to follow enthusiastically a secular vocation, developing enterprises and engaging in

trade and accumulation of wealth for investment <since wasteful purchasing was labeled as sin=. ,imply put, the *rotestant ethic gave birth to capitalism.

/eference9 Weber, !ax. <#$$A=. BThe *rotestant +thic and the ,pirit of -apitalism.B .ondon9 /outledge <C%%(=.