Peter J. Thuesen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390971
- eISBN:
- 9780199777099
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390971.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
In June 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, exhausted from a triumphant publicity tour in England for her antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, crossed the English Channel for a few weeks of leisure travel ...
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In June 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, exhausted from a triumphant publicity tour in England for her antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, crossed the English Channel for a few weeks of leisure travel on the Continent. One of her first stops was Geneva, which afforded her the chance to reflect on Calvin and his legacy in Western culture. Gazing on the view of Mont Blanc from the city, she wrote: "Calvinism, in its essential features, will never cease from the earth, because the great fundamental facts of nature are Calvinistic, and men with strong minds and wills always discover it." It was a striking statement, given her otherwise tortured relationship to her New England Puritan heritage, but it signaled a theme she would later develop in her fiction in ways that anticipated the arguments of Max Weber a half century later in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This chapter will explore this incident and its ramifications.Less
In June 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, exhausted from a triumphant publicity tour in England for her antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, crossed the English Channel for a few weeks of leisure travel on the Continent. One of her first stops was Geneva, which afforded her the chance to reflect on Calvin and his legacy in Western culture. Gazing on the view of Mont Blanc from the city, she wrote: "Calvinism, in its essential features, will never cease from the earth, because the great fundamental facts of nature are Calvinistic, and men with strong minds and wills always discover it." It was a striking statement, given her otherwise tortured relationship to her New England Puritan heritage, but it signaled a theme she would later develop in her fiction in ways that anticipated the arguments of Max Weber a half century later in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This chapter will explore this incident and its ramifications.
Lawrence A. Scaff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147796
- eISBN:
- 9781400836710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147796.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
This chapter examines the significance of Max Weber's time in Pennsylvania, and particularly his experience of the Fifth Day Quaker service, to his thesis about the Protestant ethic. It first ...
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This chapter examines the significance of Max Weber's time in Pennsylvania, and particularly his experience of the Fifth Day Quaker service, to his thesis about the Protestant ethic. It first describes Max and Marianne Weber's itinerary in the District of Columbia before discussing Max Weber's two engagements: a meeting with the president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), Samuel Gompers; and an opportunity to observe the religious service of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. It then considers some of the main arguments put forward by Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, and how the Quakers' Fifth Day service influenced his written work. It also analyzes Weber's meeting with scholar William James in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with their thoughts on two fundamental issues: the problem of the relationship between ideas and action, and the question of the “rationality” of experience.Less
This chapter examines the significance of Max Weber's time in Pennsylvania, and particularly his experience of the Fifth Day Quaker service, to his thesis about the Protestant ethic. It first describes Max and Marianne Weber's itinerary in the District of Columbia before discussing Max Weber's two engagements: a meeting with the president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), Samuel Gompers; and an opportunity to observe the religious service of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. It then considers some of the main arguments put forward by Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, and how the Quakers' Fifth Day service influenced his written work. It also analyzes Weber's meeting with scholar William James in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with their thoughts on two fundamental issues: the problem of the relationship between ideas and action, and the question of the “rationality” of experience.
Manuel Castells and Pekka Himanen
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199256990
- eISBN:
- 9780191698415
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256990.003.0006
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology
This chapter explores the relationship between a network society and identity. The chapter also examines the history of survival an information country in terms of culture, economy, biology, and ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between a network society and identity. The chapter also examines the history of survival an information country in terms of culture, economy, biology, and politics. Another defining characteristic of Finnish identity is the so-called minority identity, the mentality where the citizens continue to feel that they are regarded as a minority in the world despite being considered as a majority. The second part of the chapter discusses the role of the welfare state and information society in connection with the identity of the people of the country. Finland's combination of welfare state and information society not only serves as a vehicle towards attainment of development, but also moulds the identity of its citizens as well. The old protestant ethic is now being replaced by the hacker ethic as the acceptable work ethic of the Finnish.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between a network society and identity. The chapter also examines the history of survival an information country in terms of culture, economy, biology, and politics. Another defining characteristic of Finnish identity is the so-called minority identity, the mentality where the citizens continue to feel that they are regarded as a minority in the world despite being considered as a majority. The second part of the chapter discusses the role of the welfare state and information society in connection with the identity of the people of the country. Finland's combination of welfare state and information society not only serves as a vehicle towards attainment of development, but also moulds the identity of its citizens as well. The old protestant ethic is now being replaced by the hacker ethic as the acceptable work ethic of the Finnish.
David Chalcraft and Austin Harrington (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853239765
- eISBN:
- 9781846313868
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846313868
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism continues to be one of the most influential texts in the sociology of modern Western societies. Although Weber never produced the further ...
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Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism continues to be one of the most influential texts in the sociology of modern Western societies. Although Weber never produced the further essays with which he intended to extend the study, he did complete four lengthy Replies to reviews of the text by two German historians. Written between 1907 and 1910, the Replies offer a fascinating insight into Weber's intentions in the original study, and the present volume is the first complete translation of all four Replies in English.Less
Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism continues to be one of the most influential texts in the sociology of modern Western societies. Although Weber never produced the further essays with which he intended to extend the study, he did complete four lengthy Replies to reviews of the text by two German historians. Written between 1907 and 1910, the Replies offer a fascinating insight into Weber's intentions in the original study, and the present volume is the first complete translation of all four Replies in English.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This book presents a new portrait of Max Weber, one of the most prestigious social theorists in recent history, using his most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, as its ...
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This book presents a new portrait of Max Weber, one of the most prestigious social theorists in recent history, using his most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, as its central point of reference. It offers an intellectual biography of Weber framed along historical lines — something which has never been done before. It re-evaluates The Protestant Ethic — a text surprisingly neglected by scholars — supplying a missing intellectual and chronological centre to Weber's life and work. This book suggests that The Protestant Ethic is the link which unites the earlier (pre-1900) and later (post-1910) phases of his career. It offers a series of fresh perspectives on Weber's thought in various areas — charisma, capitalism, law, politics, rationality, bourgeois life, and (not least) Weber's unusual religious thinking, which was ‘remote from god’ yet based on close dialogue with Christian theology. This approach produces a convincing view of Max Weber as a whole; while previously the sheer breadth of his intellectual interests has caused him to be read in a fragmentary way according to a series of specialized viewpoints, this volume seeks to put him back together again as a real individual.Less
This book presents a new portrait of Max Weber, one of the most prestigious social theorists in recent history, using his most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, as its central point of reference. It offers an intellectual biography of Weber framed along historical lines — something which has never been done before. It re-evaluates The Protestant Ethic — a text surprisingly neglected by scholars — supplying a missing intellectual and chronological centre to Weber's life and work. This book suggests that The Protestant Ethic is the link which unites the earlier (pre-1900) and later (post-1910) phases of his career. It offers a series of fresh perspectives on Weber's thought in various areas — charisma, capitalism, law, politics, rationality, bourgeois life, and (not least) Weber's unusual religious thinking, which was ‘remote from god’ yet based on close dialogue with Christian theology. This approach produces a convincing view of Max Weber as a whole; while previously the sheer breadth of his intellectual interests has caused him to be read in a fragmentary way according to a series of specialized viewpoints, this volume seeks to put him back together again as a real individual.
Robert H. Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226429588
- eISBN:
- 9780226429618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226429618.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The “Protestant ethic” examined by Max Weber is really a “Calvinist ethic.” There is a second Protestant ethic, however, the “Lutheran ethic” that is very different in character and has received ...
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The “Protestant ethic” examined by Max Weber is really a “Calvinist ethic.” There is a second Protestant ethic, however, the “Lutheran ethic” that is very different in character and has received much less attention. This chapter argues that, whereas the Calvinist ethic worked to advance the development of capitalism as a political and economic system, the Lutheran ethic worked to advance the development of social democracy. The fullest expressions of the Lutheran ethic occurred in the Nordic countries in which Lutheran state churches had existed since the sixteenth century. Both the Calvinist ethic and the Lutheran ethic emphasized the religious necessity of the individual pursuit of a calling. Success in a Calvinist calling was commonly seen in worldly terms such as in business; success in a Lutheran calling was instead seen in terms such as the fulfilling of the golden rule -- do unto others you would have them do unto you. Calvinism thus encouraged the pursuit of private profit; Lutheranism encouraged the pursuit of the highest social welfare. The secularization of such a Lutheran understanding of a calling in the twentieth century provided key normative foundations for Nordic social democracy with its powerful egalitarianism.Less
The “Protestant ethic” examined by Max Weber is really a “Calvinist ethic.” There is a second Protestant ethic, however, the “Lutheran ethic” that is very different in character and has received much less attention. This chapter argues that, whereas the Calvinist ethic worked to advance the development of capitalism as a political and economic system, the Lutheran ethic worked to advance the development of social democracy. The fullest expressions of the Lutheran ethic occurred in the Nordic countries in which Lutheran state churches had existed since the sixteenth century. Both the Calvinist ethic and the Lutheran ethic emphasized the religious necessity of the individual pursuit of a calling. Success in a Calvinist calling was commonly seen in worldly terms such as in business; success in a Lutheran calling was instead seen in terms such as the fulfilling of the golden rule -- do unto others you would have them do unto you. Calvinism thus encouraged the pursuit of private profit; Lutheranism encouraged the pursuit of the highest social welfare. The secularization of such a Lutheran understanding of a calling in the twentieth century provided key normative foundations for Nordic social democracy with its powerful egalitarianism.
Yiannis Gabriel
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241367
- eISBN:
- 9780520937857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241367.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter engages with the two radical departures from the work of Max Weber. In particular, the chapter examines the discourse that starts with a critique of Weber's Protestant ethic and ...
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This chapter engages with the two radical departures from the work of Max Weber. In particular, the chapter examines the discourse that starts with a critique of Weber's Protestant ethic and concludes that such an ethic is no longer hegemonic. Second, the chapter examines the proposition that, contrary to the disenchantment of the world brought about by modernity, we are currently part of a reenchanment of the world, signaled by an ever closer association between the management of organizations and the orchestration of collective fantasies and the venting of collective emotions. Fantasy and emotion have become a driving force in and out of organizations as individuals strive to achieve precarious selfhood in a society saturated with images, signs, and information. This chapter focuses on Richard Sennett and George Ritzer, who have made significant and complementary contributions to these discourses. These two authors offer sharp analyses of contemporary societies, but both also underestimate certain tendencies which run counter to their core theses. The two authors both end up with highly individualistic accounts, arguing that for different reasons new capitalism increases freedom at the price of insecurity, isolation, and meaninglessness. To counter these two authors, the chapter uses some of Smelser's arguments as a corrective tool and to show that a society is characterized by a fundamental ambivalence between freedom and community, dependence and independence. This perspective allows a less one-dimensional prognostication of the future than that offered by Sennett and Bitzer. The core thesis in this chapter is that the abatement of Weber's iron law of rationality has exposed people neither to the freedom of a garden of earthly delights nor to the desolation of an anomic law of the jungle. Instead, this chapter proposes that new forms of entrapment through the metaphor of a glass cage are replacing the iron cage.Less
This chapter engages with the two radical departures from the work of Max Weber. In particular, the chapter examines the discourse that starts with a critique of Weber's Protestant ethic and concludes that such an ethic is no longer hegemonic. Second, the chapter examines the proposition that, contrary to the disenchantment of the world brought about by modernity, we are currently part of a reenchanment of the world, signaled by an ever closer association between the management of organizations and the orchestration of collective fantasies and the venting of collective emotions. Fantasy and emotion have become a driving force in and out of organizations as individuals strive to achieve precarious selfhood in a society saturated with images, signs, and information. This chapter focuses on Richard Sennett and George Ritzer, who have made significant and complementary contributions to these discourses. These two authors offer sharp analyses of contemporary societies, but both also underestimate certain tendencies which run counter to their core theses. The two authors both end up with highly individualistic accounts, arguing that for different reasons new capitalism increases freedom at the price of insecurity, isolation, and meaninglessness. To counter these two authors, the chapter uses some of Smelser's arguments as a corrective tool and to show that a society is characterized by a fundamental ambivalence between freedom and community, dependence and independence. This perspective allows a less one-dimensional prognostication of the future than that offered by Sennett and Bitzer. The core thesis in this chapter is that the abatement of Weber's iron law of rationality has exposed people neither to the freedom of a garden of earthly delights nor to the desolation of an anomic law of the jungle. Instead, this chapter proposes that new forms of entrapment through the metaphor of a glass cage are replacing the iron cage.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter examines the social formations Weber associated with religion—the sect and the bourgeois community of the city. It argues that the sectarian idea is a fundamental component of the ...
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This chapter examines the social formations Weber associated with religion—the sect and the bourgeois community of the city. It argues that the sectarian idea is a fundamental component of the ‘Protestant Ethic’ as well as the ‘Protestant Sects’—the intellectual unity between these two is of a far higher order than is commonly supposed—which immediately suggests that there is a more significant hinterland present here. The exploration of this idea after 1907–8 will prove to be a highway through Weber's “later” thought, which leads into a quite new area: his thinking about bourgeois group association, hence bourgeois identity in general.Less
This chapter examines the social formations Weber associated with religion—the sect and the bourgeois community of the city. It argues that the sectarian idea is a fundamental component of the ‘Protestant Ethic’ as well as the ‘Protestant Sects’—the intellectual unity between these two is of a far higher order than is commonly supposed—which immediately suggests that there is a more significant hinterland present here. The exploration of this idea after 1907–8 will prove to be a highway through Weber's “later” thought, which leads into a quite new area: his thinking about bourgeois group association, hence bourgeois identity in general.
Courtney Bender
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226249933
- eISBN:
- 9780226250274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226250274.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Modern “spirituality” announces a transformation of the multiple “spirits” of old into a single spiritual system. Mirroring transformations going on in other parts of society during the early part of ...
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Modern “spirituality” announces a transformation of the multiple “spirits” of old into a single spiritual system. Mirroring transformations going on in other parts of society during the early part of the twentieth century, the motley and irrational variety of spirits, ghosts, voices, and visions gave way to a single rationalized “spiritual universe.” This chapter argues that both spirituality’s proponents and its critics uncritically accept the view of modernity that underwrites this view of spirituality. It develops this argument through a re-reading of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and discusses an alternative beginning point for critique that begins with the lived practices of spirituality rather than critique of its prescriptive texts.Less
Modern “spirituality” announces a transformation of the multiple “spirits” of old into a single spiritual system. Mirroring transformations going on in other parts of society during the early part of the twentieth century, the motley and irrational variety of spirits, ghosts, voices, and visions gave way to a single rationalized “spiritual universe.” This chapter argues that both spirituality’s proponents and its critics uncritically accept the view of modernity that underwrites this view of spirituality. It develops this argument through a re-reading of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and discusses an alternative beginning point for critique that begins with the lived practices of spirituality rather than critique of its prescriptive texts.
Peter Kolozi
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231166522
- eISBN:
- 9780231544610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166522.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The crisis decade of the 1970s was a transformational moment for conservatives in which their ambivalence about capitalism underwent a fundamental shift. This chapter explores how conservatives in ...
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The crisis decade of the 1970s was a transformational moment for conservatives in which their ambivalence about capitalism underwent a fundamental shift. This chapter explores how conservatives in America resolved the tension between conservatism and capitalism by reimagining the capitalist market as an arena of a reinvigorated Protestant ethic. In addition, the chapter argues that a critique of capitalism on the neoconservative right remains, but it centers on how the culture of capitalism, rather than capitalism as such, produces a decadent, emasculated America lacking the will for empire.Less
The crisis decade of the 1970s was a transformational moment for conservatives in which their ambivalence about capitalism underwent a fundamental shift. This chapter explores how conservatives in America resolved the tension between conservatism and capitalism by reimagining the capitalist market as an arena of a reinvigorated Protestant ethic. In addition, the chapter argues that a critique of capitalism on the neoconservative right remains, but it centers on how the culture of capitalism, rather than capitalism as such, produces a decadent, emasculated America lacking the will for empire.
Kathryn Tanner
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780300219036
- eISBN:
- 9780300241129
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300219036.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The current configuration of capitalism, in which finance plays a dominant role, has the capacity to shape people in ways that hinder the development of any critical perspective on it. This book ...
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The current configuration of capitalism, in which finance plays a dominant role, has the capacity to shape people in ways that hinder the development of any critical perspective on it. This book explores the various cultural forms of finance-dominated capitalism and suggests how their pervasive force in human life might be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person-shaping capacity. In this way, the book reverses the project of the German sociologist Max Weber in his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, while employing much the same methods as he used for discussing the relationship between religious beliefs and economic behavior. Weber showed how Christian beliefs and practices, by way of its work ethic, could form persons in line with what capitalism required of them. This book demonstrates the capacity of Christian beliefs and practices to help people resist the dictates of capitalism in its present, finance-dominated configuration.Less
The current configuration of capitalism, in which finance plays a dominant role, has the capacity to shape people in ways that hinder the development of any critical perspective on it. This book explores the various cultural forms of finance-dominated capitalism and suggests how their pervasive force in human life might be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person-shaping capacity. In this way, the book reverses the project of the German sociologist Max Weber in his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, while employing much the same methods as he used for discussing the relationship between religious beliefs and economic behavior. Weber showed how Christian beliefs and practices, by way of its work ethic, could form persons in line with what capitalism required of them. This book demonstrates the capacity of Christian beliefs and practices to help people resist the dictates of capitalism in its present, finance-dominated configuration.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter explores the theme of religion that descends from the PE. It demonstrates an essential continuity between the ideas presented in the PE in 1904–5, and those advanced in his second wave ...
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This chapter explores the theme of religion that descends from the PE. It demonstrates an essential continuity between the ideas presented in the PE in 1904–5, and those advanced in his second wave of religious writing from 1912 onwards (the Sociology of Religion and the ‘Economic Ethics of the World Religions’). It discusses the physical continuity and discontinuity between the PE and the ‘Economic Ethics’, and the qualitative differences between the PE and the later religious writings.Less
This chapter explores the theme of religion that descends from the PE. It demonstrates an essential continuity between the ideas presented in the PE in 1904–5, and those advanced in his second wave of religious writing from 1912 onwards (the Sociology of Religion and the ‘Economic Ethics of the World Religions’). It discusses the physical continuity and discontinuity between the PE and the ‘Economic Ethics’, and the qualitative differences between the PE and the later religious writings.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion ...
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This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion and how should we assess it? It discusses the centrality of the ascetic/mystic typology of religious behaviour to Weber's thought; Weber's elevation of Entzauberung, the removal of magic, to a prominent place in his religious typology; ethical and salvation religion; and the problem of meaning.Less
This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion and how should we assess it? It discusses the centrality of the ascetic/mystic typology of religious behaviour to Weber's thought; Weber's elevation of Entzauberung, the removal of magic, to a prominent place in his religious typology; ethical and salvation religion; and the problem of meaning.
David J. Chalcraft
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853239765
- eISBN:
- 9781846313868
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853239765.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The introduction presents Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This thesis is perhaps the most renowned and read classical canon of sociological writing, and this introduction ...
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The introduction presents Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This thesis is perhaps the most renowned and read classical canon of sociological writing, and this introduction traces its publications, relates the replies to the second edition, cites the criticism and shows historical approaches to Weber's thesis. The chapters in this book are significant in accurately mapping out the history of the Protestant Ethic debate and understanding Weber's developing projects and in attempting to create a contemporary Weberian sociology that addresses the cultural and social issues of our times.Less
The introduction presents Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This thesis is perhaps the most renowned and read classical canon of sociological writing, and this introduction traces its publications, relates the replies to the second edition, cites the criticism and shows historical approaches to Weber's thesis. The chapters in this book are significant in accurately mapping out the history of the Protestant Ethic debate and understanding Weber's developing projects and in attempting to create a contemporary Weberian sociology that addresses the cultural and social issues of our times.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter examines the connections between the PE and ‘Economy and Society’. It considers how Ernst Troeltsch's publication of his great work on the Social Teachings of the Christian Churches in ...
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This chapter examines the connections between the PE and ‘Economy and Society’. It considers how Ernst Troeltsch's publication of his great work on the Social Teachings of the Christian Churches in 1912 prompted Weber to return to the PE. Troeltsch's support and alternative exposition of socioreligious history meant that the original PE text required only modest revision in detail—a confirmation of the position Weber had adopted in 1907.Less
This chapter examines the connections between the PE and ‘Economy and Society’. It considers how Ernst Troeltsch's publication of his great work on the Social Teachings of the Christian Churches in 1912 prompted Weber to return to the PE. Troeltsch's support and alternative exposition of socioreligious history meant that the original PE text required only modest revision in detail—a confirmation of the position Weber had adopted in 1907.
Anna Katharina Schaffner
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231172301
- eISBN:
- 9780231538855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172301.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter focuses on the relationship between work and exhaustion, and analyzes Max Weber's influential book 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism', as well as Ivan Goncharov's novel ...
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This chapter focuses on the relationship between work and exhaustion, and analyzes Max Weber's influential book 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism', as well as Ivan Goncharov's novel 'Oblomov', Thomas Mann's 'Buddenbrooks', and recent economic theories of happiness and inequality.Less
This chapter focuses on the relationship between work and exhaustion, and analyzes Max Weber's influential book 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism', as well as Ivan Goncharov's novel 'Oblomov', Thomas Mann's 'Buddenbrooks', and recent economic theories of happiness and inequality.
Hugh Willmott
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199595341
- eISBN:
- 9780191750755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199595341.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
The chapter explores a number of shortcomings in The New Spirit of Capitalism including the neglect of studies of management that are often more penetrating than literatures which are cited; the weak ...
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The chapter explores a number of shortcomings in The New Spirit of Capitalism including the neglect of studies of management that are often more penetrating than literatures which are cited; the weak articulation, positioning and justification of Boltanski and Chiapello's theoretical stance; the confusing conception of `spirit’ in relation to the Weber's very different formulation of the same term; the omission of neo-liberalism and financialization when accounting for the most recent `connexionist’ phase of capitalism; and a failure to incorporate consideration of `ecological critique’. The most significant shortcoming of NSC, it is suggested, is the disinclination to situate the significance ascribed to `spirit’ in a discussion of political economy. How notions of autonomy, security and fairness, for example, serve to lubricate the reproduction of capitalism can be affirmed without overlooking how a secular devotion with what Weber identifies as the `calling to make money’ provides the most potent and enduring source of legitimacy. Boltanski and Chiapello's conception of capitalism is that of a disembedded and `absurd system’ governed by impersonal forces and (re)produced independently of the everyday relations and mundane practices that, arguably, make it (more or less) meaningful. Lacking this normative ballast, the `system’ is understood to require repeated injections of `spirit’ to remedy the deficiency. Contra Boltanski and Chiapello, it is necessary to situate the significance of `the cultural’ within the study of political economy in an integrated manner, and not to treat `the cultural’ — in the form of `spirit’ — as a discrete activity that accounts for the development of different phases of capitalism.Less
The chapter explores a number of shortcomings in The New Spirit of Capitalism including the neglect of studies of management that are often more penetrating than literatures which are cited; the weak articulation, positioning and justification of Boltanski and Chiapello's theoretical stance; the confusing conception of `spirit’ in relation to the Weber's very different formulation of the same term; the omission of neo-liberalism and financialization when accounting for the most recent `connexionist’ phase of capitalism; and a failure to incorporate consideration of `ecological critique’. The most significant shortcoming of NSC, it is suggested, is the disinclination to situate the significance ascribed to `spirit’ in a discussion of political economy. How notions of autonomy, security and fairness, for example, serve to lubricate the reproduction of capitalism can be affirmed without overlooking how a secular devotion with what Weber identifies as the `calling to make money’ provides the most potent and enduring source of legitimacy. Boltanski and Chiapello's conception of capitalism is that of a disembedded and `absurd system’ governed by impersonal forces and (re)produced independently of the everyday relations and mundane practices that, arguably, make it (more or less) meaningful. Lacking this normative ballast, the `system’ is understood to require repeated injections of `spirit’ to remedy the deficiency. Contra Boltanski and Chiapello, it is necessary to situate the significance of `the cultural’ within the study of political economy in an integrated manner, and not to treat `the cultural’ — in the form of `spirit’ — as a discrete activity that accounts for the development of different phases of capitalism.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter begins in 1905 when Weber started writing the PE, noting his detachment towards the text. Weber had no especial liking for the seventeenth-century subject matter of the PE, which relied ...
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This chapter begins in 1905 when Weber started writing the PE, noting his detachment towards the text. Weber had no especial liking for the seventeenth-century subject matter of the PE, which relied ‘so heavily on alien (theological and historical) works’. The discussion then turns to the years 1907–1908 when the PE was set aside and no more would be heard about it as a publishing project until 1915. While there is no documentary answer as to why the project was set aside, there were sufficient intellectual deterrents at work, besides the improvement in the Webers' financial circumstances.Less
This chapter begins in 1905 when Weber started writing the PE, noting his detachment towards the text. Weber had no especial liking for the seventeenth-century subject matter of the PE, which relied ‘so heavily on alien (theological and historical) works’. The discussion then turns to the years 1907–1908 when the PE was set aside and no more would be heard about it as a publishing project until 1915. While there is no documentary answer as to why the project was set aside, there were sufficient intellectual deterrents at work, besides the improvement in the Webers' financial circumstances.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter examines the case of religion, where the discontinuity between the PE and Weber's work in the 1890s is more apparent. It concludes that Weber's speeches and writings in the 1890s show ...
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This chapter examines the case of religion, where the discontinuity between the PE and Weber's work in the 1890s is more apparent. It concludes that Weber's speeches and writings in the 1890s show that the origin of Weberian bourgeois democracy was religious; and that this coexisted with a ‘purely historical’ conception of Christianity as a central component in the evolution of the Occident across millennia. In his own particular sense of the word, the centrality of religion within Weber's thought-world was clearly established not merely by this date but fully twenty years before the first appearance of the PE in 1904.Less
This chapter examines the case of religion, where the discontinuity between the PE and Weber's work in the 1890s is more apparent. It concludes that Weber's speeches and writings in the 1890s show that the origin of Weberian bourgeois democracy was religious; and that this coexisted with a ‘purely historical’ conception of Christianity as a central component in the evolution of the Occident across millennia. In his own particular sense of the word, the centrality of religion within Weber's thought-world was clearly established not merely by this date but fully twenty years before the first appearance of the PE in 1904.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This Proem introduces the next section of this book, which looks at the “second history” of the Protestant Ethic, covering the years between its initial publication and the amended text which ...
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This Proem introduces the next section of this book, which looks at the “second history” of the Protestant Ethic, covering the years between its initial publication and the amended text which coincided with Weber's early death in 1920.Less
This Proem introduces the next section of this book, which looks at the “second history” of the Protestant Ethic, covering the years between its initial publication and the amended text which coincided with Weber's early death in 1920.
