Max Weber, the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
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- R. J. Holton
Part of the book series: New Studies in Sociology
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It is fortunate that many recent interpretations of Max Weber’s contribution to the analysis of modern Western capitalist development have moved beyond certain well-worn tracks of the past. There are, for example, few who would now present Weber’s sociology as profoundly antipathetical to Marxism in all its aspects. On the contrary, much of Weber’s conceptualisation of capitalism and of his analysis of capitalist development may be shown to be complementary with thematic emphases in Marx (Birnbaum, 1953; Giddens, 1970; Turner, 1981). Similarly, not many writers now believe Weber’s contribution to the transition debate to be dominated by the Protestant Ethic thesis as some kind of mono-causal ‘idealist’ explanation of capitalist development.
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© 1985 R.J. Holton
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Holton, R.J. (1985). Max Weber, the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In: The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism. New Studies in Sociology. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17745-5_5
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The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
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- Introduction
- 1. THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
- Introduction to the Translation, Stephen Kalberg
- Introduction to The Protestant Ethic, Stephen Kalberg
- PART I. THE PROBLEM
- CHAPTER I. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
- CHAPTER II. THE "SPIRIT" OF CAPITALISM
- CHAPTER III. LUTHER'S CONCEPTION OF THE CALLING
- The Task of the Investigation
- PART II. THE VOCATIONAL ETHIC OF ASCETIC PROTESTANTISM
- CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF THIS-WORLDLY ASCETICISM
- A. Calvinism
- C. Methodism
- D. The Baptizing Sects and Churches
- CHAPTER V. ASCETICISM AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
- 2. THE PROTESTANT SECTS IN AMERICA AND THE UNIQUENESS OF WESTERN RATIONALISM
- Introduction, Stephen Kalberg
- I. The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism
- II. "Churches" and "Sects" in North America: An Ecclesiastical Sociopolitical Approach
- III. Prefatory Remarks to Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion (1920)
- APPENDIX I. WEBER'S SUMMARY STATEMENTS ON "THE PROTESTANT ETHIC THESIS"
- A. The Development of the Capitalist Frame of Mind (1919-1920)
- B. A Final Rebuttal to a Critic of "Spirit of Capitalism"
- APPENDIX II. READING THE PROTESTANT ETHIC: THE TEXT AND THE ENDNOTES
- APPENDIX III. SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
- A. The Protestant Ethic Thesis and the Protestant Ethic Debate
- B. Max Weber: Life and Work
- NOTES FOR THE PROTESTANT ETHIC
- LITERATURE CITED
- A. Writings of Max Weber
- B. Secondary Literature Cited.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
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This essay will discuss Max Weber's theory as presented in "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." It will explore Weber's argument on how the Protestant work ethic influenced the development of capitalism. The piece will critically analyze the link between religion and economic systems as proposed by Weber.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (German: Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus) is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician.It began as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904 and '05, and was translated into English for the first time by American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1930. [1]
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (1904-05), thesis by Max Weber that asserts a connection between success in capitalist ventures and the accidental psychological consequences of Calvinist Christian doctrines, especially predestination.. Theory and content. Weber began his thesis by noting the statistical correlation in Germany between interest and success in capitalist ...
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 'Max Weber is the one undisputed canonical figure in contemporary sociology.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Weber's essay is certainly one of the most fruitful examinations of the relations between religion and social theory which has appeared, and I desire to
form of work organization (such as vertically integrated factories). The spirit of capitalism is the cause of this change. Where the spirit of capitalism appears and is able to work itself out, it produces its own capital and monetary supplies as the means to its ends, but the reverse is not true (69).
The book contends that the Protestant ethic made possible and encouraged the development of capitalism in the West. Widely considered as the most informed work ever written on the social effects of advanced capitalism, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism holds its own as one of the most significant books of the twentieth century ...
Weber, the 'Protestant Ethic' and the spirit of modern capitalism Weber's celebrated essays, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, were first published in 1904--5. They form one of the main texts for the elaboration of Weber's notion of the spirit of modern capitalism, of the distinction between this spirit and the
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, without a doubt the most widely recognized work by the preeminent German sociologist Max Weber, takes the form of a book-length scholarly essay ...
PROTESTANT ETHIC AND CAPITALISM 55 Perhaps the most important influence of the essay was on Troeltsch, who, starting from different premises, produced for the whole past development of Christianity that historical treatment which Weber had originally projected as his own work. Troeltsch, who ranks with Weber as one of the founders of the ...
Prefatory Remarks to Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion (1920) ... Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism has set the parameters for the debate over the origins of modern capitalism. Now more timely and thought provoking than ever, this esteemed classic of twentieth-century social science examines the deep ...