MaxWeber

THRS 230: Special Topics on Max Weber

Dr. Stephen Chan

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [1904-5]

Table of contents

Part 1. The Problem [p.1-36]

I. Denomination and Social Stratification [p.1]

2. The Spirit of Capitalism [p.8]

Read Benjamin Franklin, pp.9-11. ["Advice to a Young Tradesman"]

3. Luther's Conception of the Calling [p.28]

[Skip notes from pp.37-42; 43-66]

Part II. The Idea of the Calling in Ascetic Protestantism [p.67]

1. The Religious Foundations of Inner-Worldly [this-worldly] Asceticism [p.67-105]

a. Calvinism [pp.69-87]

Read Calvin's writings: pp.70-71.

b. Pietism [pp.87-95]

c. Methodism [pp.95-98]

d. The Baptist Movement [pp.98-105]

2. Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism [p.105-122] -- The End

[Skip notes from pp.122-202] (That's all)

Search: Wikipedia: Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

On Max Weber: LINK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber

On The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: LINK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism

E-Book: LINK

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/moriyuki/abukuma/weber/world/ethic/pro_eth_frame.html

Reading Notes:

A glance at the occupational statistics of any country of mixed religious composition brings to light with remarkable frequency 2 a situation which has several times provoked discussion in the Catholic press and literature, 3 and in Catholic congresses in Germany, namely, the fact that business leaders and owners of capital, as well as the higher grades of skilled labour, and even more the higher technically and commercially trained personnel of modern enterprises, are overwhelmingly Protestant. [p.1]

"And here the answer is by no means as simple as one might at first believe." [p.2; 2P3L]

"It is important to emphasize, however, that there are phenomenon for which no such causal relationship exists." [p.3; 2P5L]

Outrageous stereotype: "It will be our task to investigate these religions with a view to finding out what peculiarities they have or have had which might have resulted in the behaviour we have described. On superficial analysis, and on the basis of certain current impressions, one might be tempted to express the difference by saying that the greater other-worldliness of Catholicism, the ascetic character of its highest ideals, must have brought up its adherents to a greater indifference toward the good things of this world. Such an explanation fits the popular tendency in the judgment of both religions. On the Protestant side it is used as a basis of criticism of those (real or imagined) ascetic ideals of the Catholic way of life, while the Catholics answer with the accusation that materialism results from the secularization of all ideals through Protestantism. One recent writer has attempted to formulate the difference of their attitudes toward economic life in the following manner: "The Catholic is quieter, having less of the acquisitive impulse; he prefers a life of the greatest possible security, even with a smaller income, to a life of risk and excitement, even though it may bring the chance of gaining honour and riches. The proverb says jokingly, 'either eat well or sleep well'. In the present case the Protestant prefers to eat well, the Catholic to sleep undisturbed." [pp.4-5]

The Old Protestantism and the New

"The old Protestantism of such men as Luther, Calvin, Knox, or Voet HAD LITTLE TO DO with what is today called 'progress. It is directly hostile to whole aspectsof modern life which today even the most extreme sectarian would not wish to do away with." [p.7; 3P6L]

"So if an inner affinity between the old Protestant spirit and modern capitalist culture is to be found, we must try, for good or ill, to seek it NOT in the more or less materialistic or at least anti-ascetic enjoyment of life (as it is called), but rather in its PURELY RELIGLIOUS features." [p.7; 3P_bottom line]

ALSO read p.36 as conclusion.

Max Weber on John Milton

We have already called attention to the conspicuous part played by Calvinism and the Protestant sects in the history of capitalistic development. As Luther found a different spirit at work in Zwingli than in himself, so did his spiritual successors in Calvinism. And Catholicism has to the present day looked upon Calvinism as its real opponent. Now that may be partly explained on purely political grounds. Although the Reformation is unthinkable without Luther's own personal religious development, and was spiritually long influenced by his personality, without Calvinism his work could not have had permanent concrete success. Nevertheless, the reason for this common repugnance of Catholics and Lutherans lies, at least partly, in the ethical peculiarities of Calvinism. A purely superficial glance shows that there is here quite a different relationship between the religious life and earthly activity than in either Catholicism or Lutheranism. Even in literature motivated purely by religious factors that is evident. Take for instance the end of the Divine Comedy , where the poet in Paradise stands speechless in his passive contemplation of the secrets of God, and compare it with the poem which has come to be called the Divine Comedy of Puritanism. Milton closes the last song of Paradise Lost after describing the expulsion from paradise as follows:--

"They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms. Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon: The world was all before them, there to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide."

[ Book 12:641-649 ]

And only a little before Michael had said to Adam:

. . . "Only add Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith; Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love, By name to come called Charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth To leave this Paradise, but shall possess A Paradise within thee, happier far."

[ Book 12:581-587 ]

One feels at once that this powerful expression of the Puritan's serious attention to this world, his acceptance of his life in the world as a task, could not possibly have come from the pen of a medieval writer.

Conclusion: Iron Cage [Please read Peguin edition, pp.120-121]

For a quick check on the idea of "Iron Cage", search Wikipedia: Link

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 to-day determine the lives of all the individuals who 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. In Baxter's view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the "saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment." 114 But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage.[stahlhartes Gehause]

Penguin ed, transl. by Peter Baehr & Gordon C. Wells:
The Puritans wanted to be men of the calling -- we, on the other hand, must be. For when asceticism moved out of the monastic cells and into working life, and began to dominate innerworldly morality, it helped to build that mighty cosmos of the modern economic order... [p.120]

Penguin ed, transl. by Peter Baehr & Gordon C. Wells:
In Baxter's view, conern for outward possessions should sit lightly on the shoulders of his saints "like a thin cloak which can be thrown off at any time." But fate decreed that the cloak should become a shell as hard as steel. [stahlhartes Gehause]

Since asceticism undertook to remodel the world and to work out its ideals in the world, material goods have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history. To-day the spirit of religious asceticism --whether finally, who knows? --has escaped from the cage. But victorious capitalism, since it rests on mechanical foundations, needs its support no longer. The rosy blush of its laughing heir, the Enlightenment, seems also to be irretrievably fading, and the idea of duty in one's calling prowls about in our lives like the ghost of dead religious beliefs. Where the fulfillment of the calling cannot directly be related to the highest spiritual and cultural values, or when, on the other hand, it need not be felt simply as economic compulsion, the individual generally abandons the attempt to justify it at all. In the field of its highest development, in the United States, the pursuit of wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become associated with purely mundane passions, which often actually give it the character of sport. 115

No one knows who will live in this cage in the future, or whether at the end of this tremendous development entirely new prophets will arise, or there will be a great rebirth of old ideas and ideals, or, if neither, mechanized petrification, embellished with a sort of convulsive self-importance. For of the last stage of this cultural development, it might well be truly said: "Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved."

Penguin ed: "specialists without spirit, hedonists without a heart, these nonetities imagine they have attained a stage of humankind never before reached." [p.121]

But this brings us to the world of judgments of value and of faith, with which this purely historical discussion need not be burdened. The next task would be rather to show the significance of ascetic rationalism, which has only been touched in the foregoing sketch, for the content of practical social ethics, thus for the types of organization and the functions of social groups from the conventicle to the State. Then its relations to humanistic rationalism, 116 its ideals of life and cultural influence; further to the development of philosophical and scientific empiricism, to technical development and to spiritual ideals would have to be analysed. Then its historical development from the medieval beginnings of worldly asceticism to its dissolution into pure utilitarianism would have to be traced out through all the areas of ascetic religion. Only then could the quantitative cultural significance of ascetic Protestantism in its relation to the other plastic elements of modern culture be estimated.

Here we have only attempted to trace the fact and the direction of its influence to their motives in one, though a very important point. But it would also further be necessary to investigate how Protestant Asceticism was in turn influenced in its development and its character by the totality of social conditions, especially economic. 117 The modern man is in general, even with the best will, unable to give religious ideas a significance for culture and national character which they deserve. But it is, of course, not my aim to substitute for a one-sided materialistic an equally one-sided spiritualistic causal interpretation of culture and of history. Each is equally possible, 118 but each, if it does not serve as the preparation, but as the conclusion of an investigation, accomplishes equally little in the interest of historical truth. 119

- The End-

Bible; The Medieval Spirit

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[Matthew 5:3]

19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. [Matthew 6:19]

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [Matthew 6:25-27]

23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." [Luke 9:23-27]

Matthew 19:12
For some are eunuch s because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.

------------------------------------------

Critical Remarks in Response to the Foregoing "Critical Contributions" [pp.221-229]

Whereas (in p.36) I have explicitly repudiated the "foolish" thesis that the Reformation ALONE could have created the capitalist spirit "or even" capitalism itself. [p.221; 3P1L]

The essay can also be interpreted as one of Weber's criticisms of Karl Marx and his theories. While Marx held, generally speaking, that all human institutions - including religion - were based on economic foundations, The Protestant Ethic turns this theory on its head by implying that a religious movement fostered capitalism, not the other way around. [Wikipedia]

Periods of Western History

Renaissance: 14th Century
Reformation: 1517, 16th Century
Enlightenment: 18th Century

Michelangelo Buonarroti: 1475-1564

Martin Luther: 1483-1546

John Calvin: 1509-1564

Part 1. The Problem

I. Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification

Occupation; Religious Regulation; Work Ethic; Economic Rationalism; Protestantism vs. Catholicism; Business Spirit; Capitalist Counties; Our Focus.
II. The Spirit of Capitalism

Historical Individuality; Benjamin Franklin; Capitalist Ethos; Modern vs. Pre-modern Capitalism; Rationalism vs. Traditionalism; Ethos and Religious Idea; Idea of Calling.
III. Luther's Conception of the Calling,
Task of the Investigation

Origin of Calling; Medieval View; Luther's Traditionalism and Mysticism; Calvinism and Puritanism; Force of History.
Part 2. The Practical Ethics of the Ascetic Branches of Protestantism

IV. The Religious Foundations of Worldly Asceticism

History of Ascetic Protestantism
A. Calvinism
Predestination; Elimination of Magic; Rationalization of the World; Certainity of Salvation; Lutheranism vs. Calvinims; Catholicism vs. Calvinism; Monasticism vs. Puritanism; Methodical Ethic; Idea of Proof.
B. Pietism
Emotionalism; Spener; Francke; Zinzendorf; German Pietism.
C. Methodism
D. The Puritan Sects
Baptist and Quaker; Sect Principle; Inner Worldly Asceticism; Transformation of the World.
V. Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism

Richard Baxter; Meaning of Work; Justification of Profit; Jewish vs. Puritan Capitalism; Puritanism and Culture; Saving and Capital;Paradox of Asceticism and Rich; Serving Both Worlds; Citizenry Capitalistic Ethic; Iron Cage of Capitalism.