The Protestant Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism: Critique

The Protestant Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism

Overview

The Protestant Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism is a controversial work by author Max Weber, first in the collection of a two-part essay published in November, 1904 and later in the spring of 1905 for the Archives of Social Sciences and Social Policy. It was published in Volume XX and XXI and in the year 1920, a revised version was published. It ranks alongside Weber's other countless writings about business and its internationally important contributions to society, sociology and humanities. It is an influential work upon the sociology of religion. The work of Max Weber is critical to the Protestant ethic and the commencement of industrialization and Capitalism in Western Europe. The ethics or religious beliefs of the Protestants, especially the Calvinists and the capitalist principle of accumulation of capital wealth and reinvesting profits were an ideal backdrop for the industrialization discussed in this book.

The book by Max Weber is one of the most famous social science studies to date. It competes for the first place with popular books and works like Democracy in America (Tocqueville) and Capital (Marx). The main reason for this books popularity is the concept of Protestant work Ethic as discussed by Weber, the controversies and oppositions it faced, the way it has become an expression is so many different languages and the boldness of the entire work. Firstly, Weber promotes the idea that religion led to the creation of modern capitalism and secondly, he discusses that the Protestant Ethic is the main explanation for the way modern people are living in a world with two fundamental values: profit-making and hard work (regardless of religious or political beliefs).

Max Weber's hypothesis of Protestantism, specifically regarding the concept of Calvinism, discussing the development of a force of capitalism in Western Europe significantly impacted sociologists and scholars since the time of its publish in the year 1904.Many historians have admired the way in which Weber has come forth and presented a hypothesis discussing the role of ascetic Protestantism in the formation of a capitalistic mindset in the West. Historians and scholars appreciate and admire the way social speculation has been compiled by Weber to represent historical events across a timeline. Additionally, Weber has received much praise for the manner in which he has clarified the role of capitalism in the West and why it thrived to such an extent in Europe (Awney, 1996). The noted historian and scholar Immanuel Wallerstein relied heavily on the works of Weber in his justification of theories concerning the development of capitalism in to a global monetary system. Wallerstein discusses this in his famous work, “The Current Globe System”.

Personal Reflection and Critique

The work by The Protestant Ethic has a quality touch to it that makes it unique in itself and in spite of all the criticism and negativity that the work has received over the years, it is a work that reflects deep thought. There is a certain quality in the work ...