President of the United States, a rapid change from the almost certain prediction that Hillary Clinton would be the democratic presidential nominee and a major change for minorities where power and symbolic representation is concerned.
Postmodernism occurred in the 1970s amidst a spirit of questioning of authority and traditional values in American society in the wake of the turmoil, hypocrisy and corruption of Vietnam, Watergate and the Women's Movement. American culture dramatically changed during this period compared to the 1950s, in large measure because of the questioning of established culture and its institutions and the formation of an evolved culture that was more inclusive and accountable.
The "spirit of capitalism" is the belief that hard work and upright behavior will lead to prosperity for individuals who live in a society based on this economic system. Hard work and self-disciplined behavior were the spirit of capitalism literally as well as figuratively in their connection to religion. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber integrates capitalism and religion by combining hard work with abstemious behavior. Self-denial, thrift, and pious devotion to work represented devotion to God in Weber's view, an argument he puts forth in the work to support why Protestants seemed to prosper more when compared to Catholics. We see there is a strong moral ethic to the work that basically serves as a sermon on correct behavior in order to prosper materially but also to achieve salvation from this predestined existence. As Weber (2002) writes, "Remember that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides" (p. 9). All occupations add to the...