Weber's Protestant Ethic
An analysis of Max Weber’s “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”
A. A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE FORMATION OF THE TEXT:
The writing of Weber indicates his sensitivity to diverse cultural meanings and his ability to find an ‘ethos’ or ‘geist” i.e. a spirit is largely indicative not of repudiating Marx’s economic analysis of society, but rather of rounding off Marx’s writings whilst valuing empathy, or understanding – ‘verstehen’ – in Weber’s native German. One of the primary questions that arose, for me, was why and where does this “rounding” off of Marx with empathetic understanding of the human condition emerge from?
Weber’s life can be told as a fascinating story of affluent birth, mental suffering, elitist and intellectual companionship, student political participation and a lot of historical facts compiled together. However, the key aspect of his life which influenced his writing of the “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” was his immediate family background – his mother was a Protestant Christian belonging to the Calvinist school of thought. The second influence was the German intellectual tradition before and during Weber’s time – most importantly Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and the linkages between historical changes and the economy and other social institutions along with Weber’s close association with Verein fur Soziapolitik (Association for Social Policy) which worked on progressive social reform without the radical revolutionist ideals of Marx, influenced the subject and the style of Weber’s writing of the “Protestant Ethic and the Sprit of Capitalism” which was first published as a two part article in 1904-1905 in the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, of which Weber was one of the editors.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904- 05) is thus, the result of Weber’s study of American society and its religion. It incorporates anthropological observations of Weber, something of a rarity in
A. A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE FORMATION OF THE TEXT:
The writing of Weber indicates his sensitivity to diverse cultural meanings and his ability to find an ‘ethos’ or ‘geist” i.e. a spirit is largely indicative not of repudiating Marx’s economic analysis of society, but rather of rounding off Marx’s writings whilst valuing empathy, or understanding – ‘verstehen’ – in Weber’s native German. One of the primary questions that arose, for me, was why and where does this “rounding” off of Marx with empathetic understanding of the human condition emerge from?
Weber’s life can be told as a fascinating story of affluent birth, mental suffering, elitist and intellectual companionship, student political participation and a lot of historical facts compiled together. However, the key aspect of his life which influenced his writing of the “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” was his immediate family background – his mother was a Protestant Christian belonging to the Calvinist school of thought. The second influence was the German intellectual tradition before and during Weber’s time – most importantly Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and the linkages between historical changes and the economy and other social institutions along with Weber’s close association with Verein fur Soziapolitik (Association for Social Policy) which worked on progressive social reform without the radical revolutionist ideals of Marx, influenced the subject and the style of Weber’s writing of the “Protestant Ethic and the Sprit of Capitalism” which was first published as a two part article in 1904-1905 in the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, of which Weber was one of the editors.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904- 05) is thus, the result of Weber’s study of American society and its religion. It incorporates anthropological observations of Weber, something of a rarity in