Weber III: The

Protestant Ethic and the

Spirit of Capitalism

February 22, 2012Instructor: Sarah

Whetstone

“The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” – Key

Concepts• Protestant ethic

– Vs. earlier forms of Christianity – Asceticism – attaining spiritual status through

self-denial, abstinence from worldly pleasures

• Spirit of Capitalism– Cultural significance of capitalism

• Influence of Protestant philosophies on social and economic development in the West– Ideas Action

• Weber’s key argument: The roots of capitalist development lie in the spread of Protestant religious values.

Weber’s Interesting Puzzle: The strong connection between capitalism and Protestantism

o Why are owners of capital, skilled workers, and business administrators disproportionately Protestants? (228)

o Why was it the most wealthy and developed areas of the Austro-Hungarian empire which became Protestant in the 16th century?(229)

o Why are Catholics, rich & poor, insider & outsider, less oriented towards business than Protestants? (229-30)

The “spirit of capitalism"

Weber wants to connect Protestantism to some kind of essence of capitalist behavior…

He decides to start with “a document… which contains what we are looking for in almost classical purity (p. 231)” – and turns to…the writings of Benjamin Franklin…

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

• Strict Calvinist father: “Seeist thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings” (Prov. xxii 29).

• Prominent values and ethics: – Instrumental orientation to life – Utilitarian ethics (all action for

beneficial end)– Critical of consumption, in favor of

asceticism.

Group Work: Summarize Franklin’s capitalist preachings in your own words

(231-2)

I We have a duty to ACCUMULATE

II Our PERSONAL HONOUR IS DEPENDENT ON GOOD CREDIT, so

Be punctual with repaying loans.

Demonstrate industry at all times.

Let people hear “the sound of your hammer at five in the morning” rather than being seen at a tavern.

Practice extreme frugality and meticulous budgeting (to discern possible savings).

Let no chance for investment or savings, now or in the future, be lost due to extravagance.

By work

By making interest from loans to others

By investment

Weber’s Analysis of Franklin (232-3)

“The peculiarity of this philosophy of avarice appears to be the ideal of the honest man of recognized credit, and above all the idea of a duty of the individual toward the increase of his capital, which is assumed as an end in itself. Truly what is here preached is not simply a means of making one's way in the world, but a peculiar ethic. The infraction of its rules is treated not as foolishness but as forgetfulness of duty.” (232-3)Weber calls this capitalist “calling” the “social ethic of capitalist culture” – and his idea has entered our own society as the term “Protestant work ethic”

Teachings of Early Protestants

• John Wesley, Methodism

• “We ought not to prevent people from being diligent and frugal; we must exhort all Christians to gain all they can, and to save all they can, that is, in effect, to grow rich.”

The Protestant Ethic• An ideal type, which is the heart of the

spirit of capitalist culture

• An action orientation – idea of a “calling”- individual must view work/accumulation of profit as a spiritual calling. Hard work is a sign of God’s favor

• Doctrine of predestination – our paths to heaven or hell are predetermined by God- allowed justification of class system.

• Denial of “worldly” asceticism – Work hard, but don’t play hard. Save and invest to accumulate more.

John Calvin, 1509-1564

Pre-Protestant Christian Teachings: “Economic Traditionalism”

• Catholicism stressed different religious values:

“It is easier for a rich man to get into heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle” (Matthew 19: 23-24).

• Give your wealth to the poor.• Work until immediate needs are met, then

enjoy life with family and friends.• Striving to accumulate profit is seen as a sin

of desire and greed.

Weber continues argues against the idea that the “spirit of capitalism” is just a reflection of economic reality.

Far from automatically reflecting an economic base, he says, it was quite extraordinary that this ethos emerged, given that striving for financial gain is considered to be low-status, undignified behavior in most societies...

Protestant Ethic Spirit of Capitalism based on “Economic Rationalism” Modern Capitalism

Where does this spirit of capitalism, this “social ethic of capitalist culture” come from?

Weber dismisses the idea that “such ideas originate as a reflection or superstructure of economic situations” – this is an explicit argument versus Marxism.

He uses an example from the United States:

Southern states founded by large capitalists for exploitation

Undeveloped spirit of capitalism

Northern states founded by preachers, small merchants & craftsmen

Highly developed spirit of capitalism

Weber: What is the difference between the Protestant Ethic and age-old hunger for gold (“Auri sacra fames,” p. 235)?

Yes we find greed everywhere, in fact lack of trust often prevents more complex economic development

… greed is usually expressed by the most unscrupulous, or only in relations with outsiders. Greed is not morally regulated within the community.

Weber emphasizes that he is not saying that people are not greedy within “traditionalist” societies…

But

i.e. only the Protestants and their capitalist descendants think that making money can actually be the sign that somebody is a good person. Because they connect personal honor with economic enterprise, they set up a system of rules for pursuing vigorous trade while being scrupulously honest.

Weber argues that capitalism needed the Protestant ethic to evolve! (236-237)

•Raising wages does not necessarily make people work harder •“a man does not by nature wish to own more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live…” (p. 236-237)

•Lowering wages is perhaps more effective, but can backfire… (p. 237).

•What capitalism needs is workers with a sense of “calling”… but such an attitude is by no means a product of nature. It is the product of a long process of socialization and education. (What Marx would call ideology!) (p. 237)

•Even in Weber’s time, members of radical Puritan sects tend to make the best workers.

Recap: the creation of the Protestant ethic

AcquisitionProtestantism

Legalizes and gives God’s approval to

“worldly Protestant asceticism” freed moneymaking from the “inhibitions of traditionalistic ethics.”Now only the enjoyment of wealth is considered immoral.

“asceticism looked upon the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself as highly reprehensible; but the attainment of it as a fruit of labour in a calling was a sign of God’s blessing” (241)

Capitalism is an unintended consequence

Protestant emphasis on mundane tasks and duties, rather than enjoyment and luxury, was summed up in the notion of the “calling”.

Protestants produce more and spend less (High productivity and capitalist growth.) Capitalist success

becomes theologically justified as a sign of hard work.

Implications of this Argument1. What lasts from the theological innovation of the

Protestants is “an amazingly good… conscience in the acquisition of money, so long as it took place legally.” Weber calls this the “bourgeois economic ethic.”

2. The bourgeois believe that inequality is decided by God. They develop a double standard, where they can be rich and stay righteous, but they help their workforce stay close to God by forcing discipline and frugality (as well as religion) onto them. (doctrine of predestination)

3. The spirit of capitalism becomes channeled into rational economic conduct. We don’t need true religious asceticism anymore, as capitalism now has its own “mechanical foundations,” functioning as an inescapable system.

THE IRON CAGE… (p. 245)

“The puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into everyday life, and began to dominate worldly morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order. This order is now bound to the technical and economic conditions of machine production which today determine the lives of all the individuals which are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with economic acquisition, with irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until the last ton of fossilized coal is burnt.”

The Protestant Ethic broke the hold of tradition by calling people to apply themselves rationally to their work. Behavior had come to be dominated by instrumental rationality, the efficient application of means to ends, replacing other types of social action.

Rationalization – principles of efficiency and calculability dominate all areas of social life. Traditional institutions and forms of action are replaced by “rational” organizations with machine-like qualities…

Disenchantment/Demystification

Dehumanization

Rationalization of social life, spread of bureaucratic forms…

Religious roots have faded, but behavior has become a generally accepted way of life… No longer a religious calling, people are now compelled to behave in instrumentally rational ways…

Rationalization…

Bureaucracy and capitalism lead to the routinization of all spheres of life -- explicit, abstract, intellectually calculable rules and procedures are increasingly substituted for sentiment, tradition, custom

The displacement of religion by scienceThe substitution of the trained expert for the cultivated person of lettersReplacement of the skilled handworker by machine technologyThe replacement of traditional judicial wisdom by abstract codes/lawsThe effect:

“the disenchantment of the world” - less “magic,” loss of prophetic inspiration, and a hardened, materialistic approach to life

Dehumanization

Ultimately, rationalization must lead to dehumanization--the elimination of concern for human values.

Finally, rationalization causes the weakening of traditional and religious moral authority--the values of efficiency predominate.

Individual officials have specialized and limited responsibility and authority and so are unlikely to raise basic questions regarding moral implications. (Holocaust example)

The problem is further compounded by the corresponding weakening of many traditional institutions of family, community, and religion--which served to bind pre-industrial man to the interests of the group.

Credit T. Gowan for sharing some slides!

THE BIG THREE

Object of Study for Sociology

Economic conditions of life The social collective Individual actions and motives, or “cultural orientations”

Methodological Approach

Historical materialism– understand change by tracing changes in economic modes of production.

Explain social facts through social causes and social effects.

Construct “ideal types” and measure against reality to explain social action. Focus on motives of individual actors- verstehen.

What drives social change?

Changes in the mode of production

Division of labor produces changes in social solidarity and institutional forms

Ideas can influence action to produce change, and reverse may also be true. Change can also occur “randomly” outside of grand design.

How is social order maintained? (How are social relations organized?)

All social structures– including dominant knowledge- flow from economic base. Bourgeois interests shape life for the working class.

Our ties to others generate social norms that hold society together-- Collective conscience is “social glue.” Each part of society functions to maintain the whole.

Class, status, and access to power all shape life chances. Instrumental rationality is basis for action, and rational-legal authority shapes behavior in bureaucratic structures.

Central features of modern life?

Capitalist commodification, alienation, exploitation, and class struggle.

Increasing specialization, division of labor, and organic solidarity

Rationalization and bureaucratization of life: the “iron cage”

Major perspective Conflict Functionalist Interpretive

Marx Durkheim Weber