Understanding the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber

Mudabicara.com_ Max Weber is one of the most influential sociological figures to date. Apart from being a prolific writing scientist, Max Weber is also known as the father of modern sociology.

One of the writings that catapulted his name in the world of intellectualism is entitled The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The writings that surprised the intellectuals at that time contained the correlation of the success of capitalism in Europe with the religious spirit of the Protestant Calvinists.

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As a sociologist and economist, Max Weber made a major contribution to the development of sociology. Now! This time, mudabicara wants to review more deeply about Max Weber’s writings entitled Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism.

What is the content described and what is its impact on the development of capitalism in Europe? . For more, see the following reviews:

Rereading Max Weber’s Capitalism

In his writings, Max Weber tries to explain effective societal change based on the spirit of the Protestant Calvinist religious beliefs.

The social reality of European society at that time was indeed experiencing capitalism progress which was caused by the spirit of the people following the Calvinist sect in the Protestant religion.

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Max Weber’s view of the Protestant ethic actually criticised the mainstream of Marxism at that time. Marxism views the development of capitalism only as a result of economic factors which include the relations of tools and production.

On the other hand, capitalism in the style of Marxism places technology, production relations, feudalism and colonialism in the first order of factors for the progress of capitalism. This means that Marxism places the basis of the economic structure as the main factor in changing society.

However, Max Weber has another view, he argues that ideas and values ​​are the basis of the main structure of societal change that affects the superstructure such as economy, culture and politics.

Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber assessed that the Protestant ethic, especially Calvinism, had a major impact on the development of European capitalism. The teachings of Calvinism believe that success and wealth in this world is an image of success later in the hereafter, and vice versa, difficulties and misery in this world are difficulties in the hereafter.

On this basis, the followers of Calvinism have a work ethic, discipline, live a simple and frugal life. All profits will be accumulated as an investment to be multiplied.

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With a lifestyle like that, they hope to get wealth and prosperity in the world as well as later they will feel it in the hereafter. For Max Weber, it was the Calvinism ethic that brought Europe to the pinnacle of capitalism and had a prosperous life.

For the Calvinists wealth is proof of their salvation in the afterlife. As a result, Calvinists had to work harder to generate profits and wealth in order for them to be among the survivors.

Every activity of life is work, if not working means not serving the glory of God. For them to spend time not working is a big sin.

This is what strengthens Max Weber’s opinion that the basic structure of human progress is ideas and values. How hard work is a spiritual act to teach the material world.

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Calvinists believe in wealth not as a means of satisfaction or fulfilment of material needs, but spirituality.

Three Concepts of Protestant Teaching

In Protestant teaching itself, the spirit of hard work is derived from three teachings, namely the Concept of Vocation, the Doctrine of Predestination and Worldly Asceticism.

Call Concept 

The concept of vocation is a teaching that emphasises the highest moral obligation of a Calvinist to fulfil worldly needs.

Doctrine of Predestination

In principle, God has determined a person’s fate in the afterlife, whether he is safe or not. Neither the righteous nor the wicked will know their status later.

This uncertainty of fate gave birth to anxiety in European society, they always wondered about the certainty of fate. Does it include people who are saved or not?.

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So to answer this concern, a Presbyterian named Richard Baxter explained the teachings of John Calvin. Calvin’s teachings explain that the people who are saved are those who give their wealth for the advancement of religion. This means that rich people are indirectly the chosen people to be saved by God.

Asceticism

The concept of calling and the doctrine of predestination cause people to have worldly asceticism. As a result, people who use their wealth for extravagance are part of the people who are not saved.

Living a simple life and giving some of its profits to religion is an indicator that the person is among those who are saved. When a simple lifestyle is married with a high work ethic, the result is wealth and continuous investment.

These three teaching concepts are the background for the birth of the spirit of capitalism. The spirit to become a rich person is an important factor in changing the structure of society.

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Max Weber assessed that this the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism influenced the success of England and the Netherlands in the 18-19 centuries in controlling the world economy.

This simple lifestyle was carried out by several puritan groups in Protestant teachings such as Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, and Presbyterians and then spread to the European peninsula and even to the United States.

For Weber, the widespread influence of Calvinism brought about a change in the views of the bourgeoisie into a rational economy. This is what implies the birth of the modern economy. On the other hand, this is also the root of the spirit of capitalism as well as European culture which is not found in other parts of the world.

The Importance of Reading Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism

Some of the important reasons why you should read the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism are a matter of alternative thinking. Max Weber gave an alternative thought to the European community about the process of changing society towards capitalism.

While many thinkers support the deterministic view of Marxism, Max Weber has another view that is also rational and measurable.

In addition, the concept of interpretive and subjective approaches will become the basic method of social science in understanding religious phenomena.

The interpretive and subjective methods are Max Weber’s critique of the positivistic flow of sociology which requires the existence of objectively measured data, although basically the validity of the data can be subjective.

Some of Max Weber’s other works that can be the main reading material are Ancient Judaism (1952), The Religion of India: the Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism (1958) and The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism (1951).

Max Weber made a major contribution to the development of sociology, especially explaining the early development of capitalism.

It should be noted that Max Weber did not place idealistic analysis as a substitute for the explanation of deterministic Marxism. For him, these two aspects may go hand in hand or alternate and complement each other.

In his writings, he is able to explain the experience of European society in contrast to China and India in the development towards modern capitalism.