Max Weber “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”

Max Webers “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” is an analysis as to the relationship between the emergence of the spirit of capitalism in the west and the ethics of Calvinism. He argues that Calvinism catalysed this creation of the capitalist spirit. His study arose when he asked himself why capitalism had emerged out of Western Europe before anywhere else in the world, even though the economic conditions seemed identical in many of these places. In this essay I will argue that this relationship between the two isn’t as paramount as Weber suggests, and in fact may be completely arbitrary. I believe this for a number of reasons including the distorting effect Webers use of a “ideal type” has and the fact that some areas where Calvinism was practiced heavily Capitalism developed a lot later in, while others with no Calvinist beliefs still did develop Capitalism.

Weber starts his analyse looking at the intrinsic relationship between religion and business. He emphasises how sect membership is a sign that you are trustworthy and will be a good business partner, as admission to one of these congregations only happens after a careful probation, where your conduct, back to early childhood, is assessed and checked for any kind of frivolity. Admission therefore is a guarantee of the moral qualities of someone, it is a badge of honour showing you have those qualities that are required in business matters. As a result only those that had sect membership would be successful in business, as they would find it easy to make contact with other sect members if moving to a different area and would find it easy to get credit wherever they went, as the creditors would know that their sect would help them, if financial trouble, through no fault of their own, did arise. This however worked both ways, if one were expelled from a sect because of moral offences, this would have the result of them being socially declassed, while having economical loss of credit as well. The kind of denomination one was in was unimportant, and in fact irrelevant, what was paramount was membership to any denomination that had been gained after examination & ethical probation; this gave them a legitimate claim for brotherly help in economic emergencies and was a determination of moral worth. Therefore business opportunities were decisively influenced by such legitimation.

However there was one quality that was vital for Webers explanation of the break down of the prevalent traditional economic system and the emergence of a new modern capitalist one, and this was the strong notion of predestination that Calvinists had. This idea of predestination meant they suffered from salvation anxiety and so would look for signs of their salvation, and this was done through signs of a success in their business. Therefore they would work hard, while living a frugal life so they could reinvest their profits and be even more successful. Prime moral attributes therefore were seen as self-discipline and diligence as these led to more accumulation.

The endowment of certain qualities was crucial for the development of rational modern capitalism, and not only did sect membership require this to join, one would have to prove repeatedly that he was endowed with these qualities, they were constantly and continuously bred in him. Weber stated that the strongest way of breeding traits is through “the necessity of holding one’s own in the circle of ones associates.” And this is exactly what was taking place, what people held the most dear, their social self-esteem, was used as a reason to reproduce these certain “respectable” traits, this Weber argues was crucial for these morals to have had such a powerful effect on individuals that meant they were engrained so strongly in society. Therefore it was not the ethical doctrine of the religion but the form of ethical conduct that was being practiced that was important, and this methodical, rational way of life arising from the idea of salvation allowed for the emergence of the “spirit” of modern capitalism.

It is often argued that Webers account can be seen as a criticism of Karl Marx, who was a materialist and argued that all institutions, including religious ones, are based on economic foundations and that they arose out of these economic conditions as a reflection of them in order to justify socio-economic relations and capitalism. Weber however shows the exact opposite of this, how can this religious institution be reflecting capitalism when it precedes it? He was an idealist and put forward this idea that this religious movement had fostered capitalism and acted as a stimulator to social change, far from the controlling “Opiate of the Masses” that Marx considered it to be.

Many argue that Weber ignores the role of brute force in the development of capitalism and that he is too focused on one factoring matter. However this is a unfair criticism as Weber does emphasis repeatedly that Calvinism was not the only cause of capitalism but simply a contributing factor. He refutes economic history, saying it is too simplistic and in fact is multi factorial, with multiple different forces having effect.

However Webers work is far from flawless, and his biggest flaw is in how he characterises Calvinism, he creates an ideal type construct of the beliefs of Calvinists in order to demonstrate the compatibility between Calvinism and capitalism. For example his argument is based largely around the idea of pre-destination even though this wasn’t something that puritans actually practiced in daily life. He also ignores any views Calvinism had that would go against his construct of capitalism, for example their distrust of money or demands for redistribution of wealth. Weber would argue this construction of an ideal type is a value free enterprise but with such a highly selective method of what is and isn’t incorporated into his ideal type of Calvinism this cannot be the case.
He is too focused on individual power, saying that class and political actions all arise as unintended results of the actions of these individuals but this lacks a fully worked out macro sociological analysis.

His other main flaw is in the pretext of the study that capitalism emerged in those areas that Calvinism was dominant and not in other societies where it was not, but capitalism appears in other areas of the world where there is no Protestantism, for example in some catholic areas and Japan. However this was after the emergence of Capitalism in Western Europe and Weber would argue that it was transferred as a ethic without needing the religion to sustain it. He even emphasis’s in the text that as it is now a mechanism it can be exported everywhere, and imitated around the world without needing this crucial role of religious belief that it needed to first emerge.
However what he is unable to address is the flipside of this, that there were countries in which the Calvinist ethic was in place, that still developed capitalism late, for example Scotland, which was predominantly Calvinists and yet developed capitalism a lot later than other societies, suggesting the Calvinist ethic was not the stimulating force Weber claims it to be.

Several years after this work Weber went to China to pursue this question of why it didn’t develop in modernity, even though it was much more peaceful than Europe and had a good communications system in place. He came to the same conclusion as before that while many factors of Chinese society were perfect for the development of capitalism, they were counterbalanced by the effects of religion. Confucianism was the predominant religion in China, which saw technical inventions as something to be shunned, as this would disrupt ancestral spirits, and prohibited the sale of land.

Confucianism and Calvinism are both exclusive types of rational thought, showing that the right way to live is one based on religious ideology, they both valued self-control and restraint while neither opposed the accumulation of wealth, and however the decisive difference lay in their ultimate goal. The Confucianism goal to reach “a cultured status position” and the Calvinist goal to show your virtue and therefore show that you have been predestined favourably. Working towards wealth was therefore looked down on as a Confucian, whilst being encouraged within Calvinists.
Therefore Weber argues that the way in which these religions had shaped social attitudes and mentality differently is what made capitalism develop in the West and not in China. But while this supports the findings of his previous work well it falls into many of the same problems that I have previously outlined.

Webers account of the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism clearly shows the importance of sect membership in relation to business in the past, however his conclusion that it was Calvinism that was the reason why Capitalism emerged in the west is based to strongly on a personally made ideal type of Calvinism and therefore must be viewed critically.

References
Adair-Toteff, C. 'Max Weber On Confucianism Versus Protestantism'. Max Weber Studies 14.1 (2014): 79. Web.
Giddens, A. 'Marx, Weber, And The Development Of Capitalism'. Sociology 4.3 (1970): 289-310. Web.
Gorski, P. S. 'The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism. By Max Weber And The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism And Other Writings. By Max Weber'. Social Forces 82.2 (2003): 833-839. Web.
'Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism'. radio 4, 2015. TV programme.