Term Paper on "Max Weber's Protestant Ethic in the Emergence"

Term Paper 7 pages (2040 words) Sources: 1+

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Max Weber's Protestant Ethic in the emergence of capitalism in Early Modern Europe

In early 20th century, the rise of the capitalist economic system served as the catalyst for academic researchers and social scientists to determine the processes and stages in which capitalism had developed in Europe. With the radical thesis that Karl Marx had presented in "Communist Manifesto," capitalism had now been illustrated not only in a positive, but also in a detrimental light to human society.

Tracing and identifying the emergence of capitalism in early modern Europe had led to two important arguments. The first argument posits that capitalism is the product and a new form of class conflict and social stratification; while the second argument presents capitalism as human society's path towards rationalization. The latter argument, presented by the German economist Max Weber, is one of the most oft used discussions in determining the emergence and development of capitalism in Europe, or what he terms as the 'Occident.'

In his seminal work entitled, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" Weber provided a new perspective in looking at the emergence of capitalism, which is through the cultural, specifically, religious, perspective. He asserted that what made Europe or the Occident develop into a capitalist economy was because majority of its people had used the Protestant ethic as their way of life. Furthermore, inherent in the Protestant Ethic was the rationalization of people's everyday actions, a pre-requisite for a society to develop into a capitalist economy.

This paper discusses how Weber's argument holds true for the development of capitalism in early modern Europe. However, the paper also includes another religious institution that had been significant in the formation of the 'spirit of capitalism' in early modern Europe: the Catholic Church. This research argues that true to Weber's argument, religion has indeed played an essential role to the development of capitalism in early modern Europe, but this is not to be attributed solely to Protestantism, but also to Catholicism as well. The texts that follow offer insights that prove how religion helped develop a capitalist economic system in the European continent during its early development.

In discussing the development of capitalism, Weber illustrates the conditions in which society under a capitalist economy should behave. In fact, the economist illustrates the condition in which capitalism pervades and influences almost every individual, in the same way that Marx showed how capitalism is inevitable and pervasive in the lives of those who had been part of the feudal system. Regarding the socio-economic change that occurred with the emergence of capitalism, Weber has this to say:

The capitalistic economy of the present day is an immense cosmos into which the individual is born, and which presents itself to him, at least as an individual, as an unalterable order of things in which he must live. It forces the individual, in so far as he is involved in the system of market relationships, to conform to capitalistic rules of action. The manufacturer who in the long run acts counter to these norms, will just as inevitably be eliminated from the economic scene as the worker who cannot or will not adapt himself to them will be thrown in the streets without a job.

From this passage, the economist emphasized on the inevitable consequences of capitalism to the individual: either the individual adapts to it or not, but if the individual chooses not to, then the consequence would be a kind of 'alienation' from both the self and the society, a condition similar to the worker's state in Marx's discussion of social conflict and capitalism. It is evident that for Weber, capitalism is an event that is functional for the modern society, primarily because it demonstrates activities and practices that show how human society has developed rationalization.

Indeed, capitalism is "a very complex system of institutions, highly rational in character and the product of a number of developments peculiar to Western civilization" (Zeitlin, 1968:123-4). Those who are unable to adapt to these 'complex systems of institutions' and 'rational character' are bound to be left behind in the process, neither achieving development nor economic success. Moreover, those who are unable to adapt to this system are bound to maintain the "anxiety of not knowing" and "fear of damnation" (128). Thus, in order to be included in the capitalist economic system, one has to integrate himself/herself to these complex systems of institutions through labor and attain a rational character by conducting profit-making activities. Through labor and profit-making activities, one involves in the "spirit of capitalism" and accomplishes what Weber has termed as the Protestant ethic.

Weber provided a qualification of what labor should be under the capitalist economic system. According to him, "[t]he ability of mental concentration, as well as the absolutely essential feeling of obligation to one's job, are here most often combined with a strict economy which calculates the possibility of high earnings, and a cool self-control and frugality which enormously increase performance," are the characteristics that should demonstrate labor under the capitalist system. This provides a contradiction to labor done during the traditional or feudal system, wherein it is accomplished primarily as a mechanized activity that did not involve any particular goal, specifically, towards the accomplishment of economic prosperity. Thus, through labor, "though good works are useless for the attainment [sic] of salvation, they are nonetheless indispensable as a possible sign of election..." (128). Thus, labor is interpreted as vital to capitalism because the principle of the Protestant ethic was embedded in it, and that, along with profit-making activities, it is only one of the pre-requisites that one must accomplish in order to embody the Protestant ethic and in effect, thrive in the new capitalist system.

In the same manner as labor, Weber had also given his own 'vision' the conduct of economic transactions in capitalism. For him, a businessman must possess ethical qualities in which he thinks not only of the potential profit that he will make, but must also take into consideration the welfare of the "customers and workmen." This means that in economic activities, a rational individual acknowledges the interdependence of all economic factors, such as merchandise or goods, labor, and consumers as essential to the survival of his economic endeavor. The economist has this to say about the quality of economic activity under capitalism:

along with the clarity of vision and ability to act, it is only by virtue of very definite and highly developed ethical qualities that it has been possible for him to command the absolutely indispensable confidence of his customers and workmen. Nothing else could have given him the strength to overcome the innumerable obstacles, above all the infinitely more intensive work which is demanded of the modern entrepreneur. But these are ethical qualities of quite a different sort from those adapted to the traditionalism of the past.

Combining both the purposeful accomplishment of labor and ethical conduct of economic activities, qualities embedded in the Protestant ethic, Weber had outlined the nature of capitalism in early modern Europe. From these examples, it becomes evident that in each are inherent the concept of rationalization, a state wherein the individual was able to transcend his limits -- that is, accomplishing activities that would have otherwise been considered impossible without acquiring a new perspective, which is the 'scientific point-of-view.'

Purposeful labor and ethical conduct of economic activities are the components of the catalyst of the capitalist system that is the Protestant ethic. However, Weber made it clear in his discussion that "[o]nce the capitalist system had become established, the Protestant ethic was no longer a necessary ingredient for the maintenance of the system...the ethic was not a necessary precondition for the emergence of the capitalist system per se, but rather for its markedly energetic character during the early phases of the system's development" (129). Nevertheless, he considered the Protestant ethic as the primary 'mover' that made capitalism and its development possible.

Giddens (1970) provided further elucidation that the Protestant ethic had indeed played a vital role in the development of capitalism. For him, it is not solely the principle of the Protestant ethic, but rather the ascetic nature of the Protestant religion that motivated and furthered the modernization of early Europe. He asserted that "[c]apitalism is 'ascetic' in that the actions of capitalists are based upon self-renunciation and the continual re-investment of profits...Political economy, the science of wealth, is therefore, at the same time, the science of renunciation, of privation and saving...Its true ideal is the ascetic usurious miser and the ascetic but productive slave" (33). From this, it was made clear that capitalism was not solely based on the Protestant religion alone, but rather, to its ascetic nature, which, Collins (1986) had also pointed out, present in Catholicism, which was also a dominant religion during the early development of Europe towards capitalism.

Because Catholicism also demonstrates the nature of asceticism qualified by Giddens, Collins argued that it was not only Protestantism, but also Catholicism, that contributed to… READ MORE

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