Max Weber on Capitalism and Calvinism (2)

The death of the religious roots of capitalism

Nevertheless, the intimate connection between capitalism and pietism seemed to have a short life. Since capitalism developed and expanded, the cultural values of society become secularized. This is due to the economic system which was based on the desire to accumulate wealth and maximize profit, and self interest necessitated materialistic values. Society became more concerned with material world and this resulted in a fact that the religion played only a small and confined role in society. Hence, the disciplined and rational capitalism become an established mentality in society leaving its religious roots died out. Materialism and “utilitarian worldliness” began to increase and form a capitalist and secularized society (Bocock 2005:165; Hamilton 2000:159). Describing this phenomenon, Weber wrote,

“Since asceticism undertook to remodel the world and to work out its ideals in the world, material goods have gained in increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history. Today the spirit of religious asceticism… has escaped from the cage. But victorious capitalism, since it rests on mechanical foundations, needs its support no longer…For the last stage of this cultural development, it might well be truly said: “Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.” (Weber 1978:181-182).

In this stage, success in life through money making was no longer regarded a sign of divine approval and a means of salvation. It was then considered an end in itself. Transcendental motive was removed from the modern capitalist enterprises and making maximum profit transformed into a mundane job (Fullerton 1973:31).

The Debate on Weber’s Thesis

Weber’s thesis of the relationship between Calvinism and modern western capitalism has raised criticism as well as warm welcome from many scholars and intellectual. The Protestant Ethic was accepted with enthusiasm by many Weber’s contemporaries such as the cultural historian Ebenhard Gothen, the economic historians Gerhard von Sculze-gaevernitz and William Cunningham, and the church historian Hans von Schubert. Ernst Troeltsch, Weber’s colleague, agreed with most of Weber’s ideas so that the thesis was also known as Weber-Troeltsch thesis (Hamilton 2000:162). Generally, the criticisms of Weber’s thesis are heavily focused on the following: the roots modern capitalism, the causes that gave rise to the modern capitalism and evidence that supported Weber’s thesis.

Werner Sombart, Weber’s fellow editor of Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, also affirmed the connection between religion and economic progress. Different from Weber, Sombart concluded that the spirit of capitalism could be traced not to the Protestants, but further to the Shepardic Jews who settled in Amsterdam and Hamburg after they had been expelled from Spain and Portugal at the end of fifteenth century. They developed a spirit of capitalism in their economic life which derived from a particular ethos of Talmud (Lehmann 1993: 199-200; Hamilton 2000:162). The political economist Lujo Brentano held that it was the Catholics who developed a modern form of capitalism in Italy, which was supported by Roman law. He referred to great capitalist Catholics who emigrated north after the Reformation and remained Catholics in their capitalist economic attitudes. Furthermore, he believed that the development of capitalism in seventeenth-century England was not caused by single factor, like Calvinism, but by various factors such as the Machiavellian spirit and the rise of empirical philosophy (Brentano 1923 as cited Hamilton 2000:162-3). Another critic, Felix Rachfal, argued that the roots of spirit capitalism should ascribed to Anabaptist tradition, which had influence over Calvinism in the seventeenth century England, and the rational libertinism and humanism of Desiderius Erasmus (Weber 1968 as cited in Hamilton 2000:163).

Karl Fischer believed that the capitalist spirit was not necessarily affected by religious beliefs. He argued that political and social factors had more influence on the development of the capitalist spirit. The same holds true for the ideas on duty. It resulted from psychological causes, rather than Calvinist teaching of calling (Hamilton 2000:164). It seems that Weber exaggerated the religious values, particularly Calvinist doctrines, and overlooked economical and political factors (Stark 2004:491).

Another objection to Weber’s thesis is focused on the sufficient evidence that Weber did not provide to support his thesis. According to Rachfal, in countries that Weber singled out as the triumphs of capitalism, capitalistic enterprise and the spirit of capitalism had developed before the introduction of Calvinism. He argued that the great capitalists in Holland had existed before the coming of Calvinism and they remained Catholics after that. He also doubted that capitalists Puritans in England were truly motivated by their religion in their commercial activities (Hamilton 2000:164). Furthermore, according to historical economists, in Europe the Protestant countries developed capitalism or industry later than the Catholic areas (Samuelsson 1957; Delacroix 1992 as cited in Stark 2004:490).

In addition, it seems that Weber’s thesis suffers from a cultural bias in that he was likely influenced by his religious commitment as a liberal Calvinist. Weber participated in the Protestant Social Congress in the last decade of the nineteenth century. He shared the reformed faith of Calvinism and had a close relationship with colleagues from the Calvinist University of Heidelberg, where he wrote his The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1902-1903(Hamilton 2000’152). Furthermore, Weber seemed to exaggerate the role and the influence of religion, particularly Calvinism, in the rise and the development of modern western capitalism, and put a little attention of socio-political elements.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Weber thesis gives an important contribution in understanding the possible connection between religion and socio-economic change in the western society. Inevitably, his thesis on the influence of Calvinism on modern capitalism has raised objections and criticism by many scholars. Despite the abovementioned debate and criticisms, Weber’s thesis helps us to understand capitalism, one of the most important characteristics of modern society, and its important connection with certain Calvinist doctrines, at least in its early development.

References

Bocock, Robert, 2005, ‘The cultural formation of modern society,’ in S. Hall, et. al (eds), Modernity, an introduction to modern societies, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 150-183.

Giddens, Anthony, 1990, Capitalism and modern social theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Giddens, Anthony, ‘Introduction,’ in Max Weber, 1978, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, pp. 1-12.

Green, Robert W (ed.), 1973, Protestantism, Capitalism, and Social Science, the Weber thesis controversy, second edition, D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington.

Hamilton, Alastair, 2000, ‘Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,’ In Stephen Turner (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Weber, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 151-171.

Lehmann, Hartmut & Roth, Gunther, 1993, Weber’s Protestant Ethic: Origins, Evidence, Contexts, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stark, Rodney, 2004, Sociology, Ninth edition, Thompson Learning, Inc, Singapore.

Weber, Max, 1978, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.