The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism: and Other Writings (Penguin Modern Classics)

I can not believe I waited until I was 59 years old to read this book in its entirity. This is a clear, concise analysis of the cultural factors that created the "capitalist spirit" in general and in America specifically. Weber clearly analyses the belief systems of Protestantism that created the "Protestant Ethic" that compelled the protestant Americans to work hard, deligently attempting to earn capital and then to use that capital to further God's work here on earth. That wealth was not to be accumulated for personal consumption, but for further investment. Further investment meant more jobs, and a better life for others. In addition, profit was seen a God's blessing and was to be used by the individual to provide charity to those who were destitute.It is amazing how this culture is evident in our lives today, even among those who are no longer Christians. Look at Buffet, he does not live ostentatiously, he creates and accumulates capital, he is still working at his advanced age, he works constantly, and he has given away his profits to charity. This is an almost perfect example of the protestant ethic. Look at Ted Turner's work and charity. Poor old Ted does not understand the forces of the culture that motivate him, but he is being carried along by the current that has been handed down to us by our forefathers. The same can be said for the Gates and their foundation, working to provide charity to the people of the earth. The same can be said for the Mellons, Carnieges, and others of thier ilk. Work hard, it is a calling, it is important to create wealth, it is good to create wealth, and then provide charity with that wealth. That is the ethic, and Weber tells us how it happened, and why it happened exclusively in America.

As the Church of Rome had engaged in--among other dubious practices--the selling of indulgences in order to, e.g., buy off time in Purgatory, men and women religious of the day railed against what they deemed to be unchecked deviation from Holy Writ. The initial impulse to question had gained momentum and the dissent then developed into a radically new spin on being a Christian in the world--a world now also galvanized by the move from a hide-bound political economy of Lord and vassal to one of capital investment, commerce, and industry.New Christian tenets inviting religious individuation and including highly compelling ideas and praxes such as predestination also manifest both a theological relativism as well as a spiritual angst, with both realities eventually wedded to the political economy of industry and enterprise as a surrogate Christian berufen, or spiritual "calling" in the world. This conjunction of derivative, often highly reactive "spirituality," its attendant anxieties, and the socio-economic outlets for neurotic religious foreboding and portent in industry and enterprise coalesced in a rationalization informed by efficiency and calculation, i.e., the hallmarks of capitalism, both then and now.The prescience of this early 20th century view for today's Weltanschauung is striking, i.e., the neo-liberal agenda for unbridled market depredations in the Third World milieu--as the "natural" progression for an enterprise/industry "ethic" ("code" ?)supposedly divinely ordained--may then impose its will to power/capital anywhere it sends its latter-day Crusading military forces. Indeed, ultra-right hyper-religious Christian fundamentalists in the US have insinuated themselves into DC's business-as-usual quest of Empire, i.e., the Washington Consensus, informing its agenda in both overt K-Street style propaganda--to which the hopelessley naive willingly align themselves--as well as more "subtle" (to the degree that they are capable of this dynamic) inroads via local agencies, i.e., Church collectives.

This classic is more referred to than read by economists in Anglo-Saxon countries where Weber is considered mainly a sociologist. When I went to Graduate School (Wisconsin) it was not even mentioned. A pity, because it is a milestone in the search for explanations of historical events, in this case the extraordinary spread of capitalism in Protestant countries. Onemay not buy Weber's thesis in part or in toto, but it is so carefully argued that dissent has to be very nuanced and scholarly to be persuasive. (An example of such creative dissent is Tawney's "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism").This Edition contains a fairly good translation; its main weakness is the arrangement of notes (Editor's and Weber's) at the end of each chapter. Hard to find because tops of pages don't contain chapter titles. And the notes are an important part of the whole.The book also contains several of Weber's rebuttals to some citicisms that he received. Since these critiques are not reprinted here, the rebuttals are not fully self-explanatory. Moreover, this section is not inspiring for another reason: the tone of academic petulance diminishes the image of a great scholar.

Weber had a different view of American protestant ethics and viewed it from an outside observation and analysis. Personally, if applied to biblical warnings of self indulgence and social entrapments of control it becomes easy to see his concerns about the American commercial ethic and influences in our churches.

A classic in the sociology of religion that should be read by anyone who wants to know the animating principle behind American life: secular Calvinism.

Had to read for a class, but still good book

Very interesting hypothesis on the ghost of capitalism

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a cornerstone sociological work that Max Weber illustrates with excellent precision, and helps provide an adequate demostration as to why the US is the capitalist nation par excellence.However, the Penguin edition falls short on a number of fronts. First of all is the lengthy introduction that becomes no more than a tedious chronology of the reception of Weber's work.Then is the nature of the footnoting. Rather than using a more modern, kindle friendly method of footnoting, clicks of footnotes take you back and forth through the book, and the huge collection of footnotes really splits up the book, making it troublesome to read at times.Penguin is a great publishing house, but this edition appears to be lazily composed, is not up to usual Penguin standards, and mars what is otherwise a true classic.For Weber's work itself, 5 stars, but this edition only narrowly merits 3.

Be careful; this is a translation of the 1904 edition, not of Weber's expanded 1920 edition, where he added material to answer critics and to back up his case.That said, Baehr's translation is not bad.