This post is about Max Weber’s Part I “The Problem” in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. I want to start out by as briefly highlighting his argument and then share a few observations.
Weber’s Argument:
1. Weber argues for the relationships between the “Protestant Ethic” and “the Spirit of modern Capitalism.”
2. The “spirit” is the force or ethos that underlies the emergence of modern capitalism
3. Weber views the concept of earning money in the modern economic sense as an expression of virtue and proficiency that has its roots in the protestant notion of calling. Three statements that stood out to me especially are:
a.) “The earning of money within the modern economic order is, so long as it is done legally, the result and the expression of virtue and proficiency in a calling; and this virtue and proficiency are, as it is now not difficult to see, the real Alpha and Omega of Franklin’s ethic, as expressed in the passages we have quoted, as well as in all his works without exception.” (53-54)
b.) “And in truth this peculiar idea, so familiar to us to-day, but in reality so little a matter of course, of one’s duty in a calling, is what is most characteristic of the social ethic of capitalistic culture, and is in a sense the fundamental basis of it. It is an obligation which the individual is supposed to feel and does feel towards the content of his professional activity, no matter in what it consists, in particular no matter whether it appears on the surface as a utilization of his personal powers, or only of his material possessions (as capital).” (54)
c.) “But at least one thing was unquestionably new: the valuation of the fulfillment of duty in worldly affairs as the highest form which the moral activity of the individual could assume. This it was which inevitably gave every-day worldly activity a religious significance, and which first created the conception of a calling in this sense. The conception of the calling thus brings out that central dogma of all Protestant denominations which the Catholic division of ethical precepts into prececepta and consilia discards. The only way of living acceptably to God was not to surpass worldly morality in monastic asceticism, but solely through the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon the individual by his position in the world. That was his calling.” (80)
Observations:
Thus far it is hard to make a conclusive judgment about Weber’s thesis, since it has only been developed partially in the first half of the book.
I do find the linking of fulfilling ones Christian calling in the world as the ground soil in which capitalism emerged fascinating. One of our jobs as pastors is to affirm people in their Christian vocation. A lot of times people view their jobs as unspiritual and we try to help them discern their calling from God in the domain that they work in. For example, someone put an article in my church inbox that is titled “Our Calling, Our Spheres.” There is a picture with a car mechanic fixing breaks and a text box reads –“Adjusting brakes to God’s glory.” The article starts out the following way: “Martin Luther was once approached by a working man who wanted to know how he could serve the Lord. Luther asked him, “What is your work now?” The man replied, “I’m a shoemaker.” Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price.” He didn’t tell the man to make “Christian shoes.” He didn’t tell him to leave his shoes and become a monk.” (Leadership Journal Summer 2010).
Does this type of affirmation of work that I just shared about from the article really constitute the spirit that underlies modern day capitalism? Did the affirmation of every-day worldly work as being religiously significant really provided the soil for capitalism to prosper?
I will make my final judgment after reading the entire book. However, as of right now this thesis does not look promising in terms of explanatory power for the rise of modern capitalism.
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