Western Capitalism & Max Weber

. . . It is, of course, not my aim to substitute for a one-sided materialistic an equally one-sided spiritualistic causal interpretation of culture and of history. Each is equally possible, but each, if it does not serve as the preparation, but as the conclusion of an investigation, accomplishes equally little in the interest of historical truth (Weber 183).

What Weber is after is a portrait of the development of Western civilization and capitalism as products of both religious and materialistic beliefs and practices. He wants to discover specifically how capitalism developed as a response to dramatic changes in religious beliefs. Capitalism, says Weber, is first and last the pursuit of profit. However, he argues that what matters is not a pursuit of profit for the mere sake of profit, but rather the pursuit of profit for what that profit symbolizes, for what profit says about the individual and the relationship of that individual's soul with God. With the coming of Protestantism came questions and doubts about each individual's salvation. The drive to acquire wealth and capital became a drive to prove that one wa

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of religious duty: Christian asceticism . . . now . . . strode into the market-place of life . . . and undertook to penetrate just that daily routine of life with its methodicalness, to fashion it into a life in the world, but neither of nor for this world (Weber 154). What was occurring was a development of an ethic in which capitalistic enterprise came to be seen as a sign of salvation. Protestantism left behind the certainties of Catholicism in this regard, and capitalistic enterprise and profit---along with a worldly ascetic and commitment to helping others---came to be signs that the Protestant individual was likely blessed and would be saved. Weber argues further that profit from one's labor in capitalistic enterprise is a religious and ethical duty, a major part of one's calling: Wealth is . . . bad ethically only in so far as it is a temptation to idleness and sinful enjoyment of life, and its acquisition is bad only when it is with the purpose of later living merrily and without care. But as a performance of duty in a calling it is not only morally permissible, but actually enjoined (Weber 163). Weber's main argument is that the development of capitalism was in part the result of Protestant beliefs. The Christian wa
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Approximate Word count = 1563
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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