1. The components of Weber's ideal type of economic rationalism in the West add up to capitalism. They start with the "nature of the labor system" involved (Weber, 1990, p. 353). After that, a number of different elements combine:
[T]he factor which produced capitalism is the rational permanent enterprise, rational accounting, rational technology and rational law, but again not these alone. Necessary complementary factors were the rational spirit, the rationalization of the conduct of life in general, and a rationalistic economic ethic (Weber, 1990, p. 354).
The first four items in the above statement relate to technical aspects of business operation. The "complementary" factors in that statement are the ones that connect the ideal type of economic rationalism to the religious revolution of early modern Europe. That is because the Protestant Reformation was a rational response to the mystical irrationality and the doctrines of control over human behavior in Catholicism.
The Reformation also rationalized the conduct of life in general, since the ethic of material enterprise and a life dedicated to work, i.e., "life's work," spread through Europe, just like Protestantism. That is connected to Weber's quote that "you think you have escaped from the monastery, but everyone must now be a monk throughout his life" (Weber, 1990, p. 366). The idea is that economic success requires concentrated devotion on the part of the economic actor, and that is the mentality that was necessary to capitalism's rise. It is connected to the concept of the Protestant Work Ethic. Weber cites the Calvinist idea "that man was only an administrator of what God had given him" (p. 367), which linked secular activity to religious obligation. Giddens agrees in his evaluation of Weber's work.
The Protestant Ethic demonstrates that there is an 'elective affinity' (Wahlverwandtschaft) between Calvinism, or more accurately, certain sorts of Calvinist beliefs, ...