APPLICABILITY OF PROTESTANT ETHIC TO CANADIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
This research assesses the relevance of Max Weber's thesis in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism as an explanation of the development and growth of the capitalist market economy in Canada. An absence of such relevance might indicate that Weber's thesis, based on the experience of Europe, is not transferable to a North American context.
The Protestant Ethic and Capitalist Development
The work ethic of the Protestant Church valued work as a religious virtue. One implication for economic development of the Protestant work ethic is that hard work and the accumulation of wealth are considered virtuous and indicative of a worthwhile life.
Industriousness and the need for achievement are specific values broadly held by many individuals in a variety of cultures. The individual who has learned the value of industriousness while young is most likely to have a high need to work hard and achieve something meaningful. Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism concluded that some cultures achieve more than others because of the values of their people. Protestant values encourage the need for achievement, as the Protestant ethic holds that an individual's life is to be judged by her or his accomplishments.
The Protestant churches in Europe and North America early on were instrumental in the economic and social transformation of the societies of northern Europe and North America. Those Protestant churches promoted an ethic of hard work, thrift, and self-relianceùor "the worldly asceticism" in Weber's words, that Weber considered necessary to capitalist achievement. Within an economic context, the Protestant churches stimulated entrepreneurial activity.
Relevance of Weber's Thesis to Canada
Canada developed economically as it developed politicallyùas two countries within a country. English Canada, which was inculcated w...