Overall Summary:

At its face value, PE is about the religious facet of culture and how its impact on economic activity.  In this book Weber presents the Protestant Ethic Thesis where he states that the Calvinist/Protestant work ethic that encouraged people to work, save, and involve in trade in the market in Northern Europe lead to massive action that created the early formulations of Capitalism.

Chapter 1:

Weber opens by presenting the reasoning behind his hypothesis, which he illustrates via a statistical relationship: the most educated and holders of the most capital in the majority of societies are overwhelming protestant.  He then moves on by stating that his articulation of this statistical relationship is not that religious affiliation causes economic activity, but that religious affiliation is the result of economic factors and thus the result of specific economic exchanges can be a vehicle behind religious affiliation.  (pp. 67-8)

Weber moves on by discussing a bit of the components of religious revolutions that occurred during the 16thcentury and questioning how overwhelmingly Catholic nations transitioned to becoming wealthy Protestant ones.  Weber states that while Catholicism socialized people into avoiding materiality, German Protestants took a different view, one of economic rationalism.  Weber attempts to explain the differences that are present in the occupational statistics he mentions in this chapter (Why richer districts tend to convert to protestant).  But Weber states that we shouldn’t assume that the larger pool of wealth of Protestants completely explains their larger involvement in capitalism.  The education of Catholics and the encouragement to move into the industry by Protestants is most likely causing the stratification in occupation.

In this chapter Weber is trying to understand why richer districts are protestant.  Weber believes that different religions are contributing to social stratification and that ach respective religion creates a certain type of person with a certain set of values which influences the types of economic decisions these people make.

· Catholics are more otherworldly & aesthetic; making them indifferent to materialism (QUITE INACCURATE GENERALIZATION: All the gold the Pope wear is stolen from Africa; the Vatican city is the richest city in the world)

· Not all strains of Protestantism are popular: Calvinism is more popular than Lutheranism in Christian belief

Chapter 2: 

· In this chapter Weber discusses how the ideals that extend from the pursuit of profit being acceptable or an unavoidable element of life led to the construction of middle class.

· The main point of focus in this chapter is from Franklin’s speech which highlights his means and ways of discussing valuable people in society and all of those principles align with how useful a person is and how much profit they produce.

· Weber tries to explain how the way of life and concepts of the worker that we see in capitalism came about and he assumes it had to have existed somewhere prior to the conception of capitalism for people to take on and accept ideals contrary to the previous ones. Weber argues that Massachusetts which was founded for more religious purposes had a spirit of capitalism in a pre-capitalist era unlike places in the south which were founded for “business purposes”.

· Traditionalism was the capitalist ethic’s biggest enemy.

· Weber then addresses the opposite policy, of reducing wages to increase productivity. He says that this effectiveness of this has its limits, as wages can become insufficient for life. To be effective for capitalism, labor must be performed as an end in itself. This requires education, and is not simply natural.

· The spirit of modern capitalism implies an attitude of rational and systematic pursuit of profit. Such an attitude finds its most suitable expression through capitalism, and has most effectively motivated capitalistic activities. However, the spirit of capitalism and capitalistic activities can occur separately.

· Overall, Weber argues that low wages are not economically feasible.

· Weber states that people were socialized into their acceptance of low wages.  The ethics of capitalism were accepted through a slow socialization.

· At some point traditionalism was overcome but the organization of society was not undone (who had what resources)

· According to Weber, the “spirit” necessary for successful capitalistic activities is not natural.

· Big theme: people eventually came to see making money as  “calling”

Chapter 3:

· By this chapter, Weber is fleshing out more of the change/transition to feeling a calling to work & profit generation within society.  He argues that people felt called to make a profit just as much as a minister may feel he/she is called by God to preach.  The PE & SOC has a very religious function behind it, this conviction/calling is the driver of PE & SOC socialization.

·  The reformation’s biggest contribution was from Luther: “moral justification of worldly activity”.  But it cannot be said that Luther had the SOC. Luther was a traditionalist.  But it was not Luther alone who helped perpetuate this ideal (Calvinism played a role).

·  In this chapter Weber points out the correlations between religious ideologies and how they effected the development of material culture.

·  Luther’s conception of calling remained tied to economic traditionalism.

Chapter 4:

Historically, the four major forms of ascetic Protestantism have been, Calvinism, Pietism, Methodism, and the Baptist sects. None of these churches are completely independent of each other, or even from non-ascetic churches. Even their strongest dogmatic differences were combined in various ways, and similar moral conduct can be found in all four. We see, then, that similar ethical requirements can correspond with very different dogmatic foundations. In examining these religions, Weber explains that he is interested in “the influence of those psychological sanctions which, originating in religious belief and the practice of religion, gave a direction to practical conduct and held the individual to it.” People were concerned with abstract dogmas to a degree that can only be understood when we see how connected these dogmas were with practical religious interests. 

The first religion Weber describes is Calvinism. Calvinism’s most distinctive dogma is the doctrine of predestination. Calvinists believe that God preordains which people are saved and which are damned. Calvinists came to this idea from logical necessity. Men exist for the sake of God, and to apply earthly standards of justice to God is meaningless and insulting. To question one’s fate is similar to an animal complaining it wasn’t born a man. Humans do not have the power to change God’s decrees, and we only know that part of humanity is saved, and part damned. In the Calvinist outlook, God becomes “a transcendental being, beyond the reach of human understanding, who with His quite incomprehensible decrees has decided the fate of every individual and regulated the tiniest details of the cosmos from eternity.” 

Weber argues that Calvinism must have had a profound psychological impact, “a feeling of unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual.” In what was the most important thing in his life, eternal salvation, each person had to follow his path alone, to meet a destiny already determined for him. No one could help him, and there was no salvation through the Church and the sacraments. This was the logical conclusion of the gradual elimination of magic from the world. There were no means at all to attain God’s grace if God had decided to deny it.

On the one hand, this account shows why the Calvinists rejected all sensual and emotional elements of culture and religion. Such elements were not a means to salvation and they promoted superstition. On the other hand, we see the origins of today’s disillusioned and pessimistic individualism. The Calvinist’s interaction with God was carried out in spiritual isolation, even though he did belong to a church. There was social organization because laboring for impersonal social usefulness was believed to be required by God. 

This account of Calvinism brings up an important question, however. How could the doctrine of predestination have developed in an age when one’s afterlife was the most important and most certain part of existence? Each believer must have wondered if he or she was one of the elect; it must have dominated their thoughts. Calvin was sure of his own salvation, and his answer to such concerns was simply to be content with the knowledge that God has chosen, and trust in Christ. Calvin rejected in principle the assumption that people could learn from other’s conduct whether they were saved or damned–this would be trying to force God’s secrets. However, this approach was impossible for Calvin’s followers. It was psychologically necessary that they have some means of recognizing people in a state of grace, and two such means emerged. First, it was considered an absolute duty to consider oneself to be one of the saved, and to see doubts as temptations of evil. Secondly, worldly activity was encouraged as the best means of gaining that self-confidence. 

Why could worldly activity take on this level of importance? Calvinism rejected the mystical elements of Lutheranism, where humans were a vessel to be filled by God. Rather, Calvinists believed that God worked through them. Being in a state of grace meant that they were tools of divine will. Faith had to be shown in objective results. What results did Calvinists look for? They looked for any activity that increased the glory of God. Such conduct could be based directly in the Bible, or indirectly through the purposeful order of God’s world. Good works were not a means to salvation, but they were a sign of having been chosen. 

Weber observes that Calvinism expected systematic self-control, and provided no opportunity for forgiveness of weakness. “The God of Calvinism demanded of his believers not single good works, but a life of good works combined into a unified system.” This was a rational and systematic approach to life. Since people had to prove their faith through worldly activity, Calvinism demanded a kind of worldly asceticism. It led to an attitude toward one’s neighbor’s sins that was not sympathetic, but rather full of hate, since he was God’s enemy, bearing the signs of eternal damnation. This implied a “Christianization” of life that had dramatic practical implications for the way people lived their lives. 

Furthermore, religions with a similar doctrine of proof had a similar influence on practical life. Predestination in its “magnificent consistency” was the foundation for the Puritans’ methodical and rationalized ethics. The different branches of ascetic Protestantism had elements of Calvinist thought, even if they did not embrace Calvinism as a whole. Weber again emphasizes how fundamental the idea of proof is for his study. His theory can be understood in its purest form through the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Calvinism did have a unique consistency and an extraordinarily powerful psychological effect. However, there is also a recurring framework for the connection between faith and conduct in the other three religions to be presented. 

Commentary 

This chapter is somewhat disjointed from the rest of Weber’s study, but does attempt to show some of the main aspects of Puritan life. Calvinism is Weber’s primary focus here, but in the next section he will more briefly present three other ascetic Protestant religions. In this section, Weber presents some of the most fundamental doctrines of Calvinism, as well as discussing how dogma affected practical living. There are a few key ideas to notice in Weber’s discussion here. First, Calvinism was important because it stressed grace by results; there was a need for proof of one’s preordained fate. This was not part of the original doctrine, but came out of psychological necessity. Second, notice the connection to the previous chapter’s discussion of the Protestant calling. The sorts of “results” that Calvinists were looking for were part of worldly activity. Calvinists did not lead an isolated monastic lifestyle. They participated in the life of their communities, because this was part of God’s expectations of them. 

It is also important to notice how Weber presents Calvinism as the height of rationalism. It has a “magnificent consistency” and encourages systematic living and the absence of magic. What does Weber mean when he says that Calvinism is “rational”? The word has important meaning to Weber, and he uses it throughout this and other works. In the context of religion, “rationalization” implies systematization and consistency, elaboration, and extension of doctrine. In terms of social institutions, rationalization implies ever-increasing knowledge in areas like calculation and efficiency. How is Calvinism rational? According to Weber, it is completely logically consistent. If you accept the Calvinists’ presuppositions (such as the existence of God), then their doctrines contain no inner contradictions. Furthermore, Calvinism rejects all use of “magic,” such as sacraments that will save those who partake in them. In contrast, the only hints of salvation are based on a systematic and methodical life of virtue. Calvinism was uniquely rational in these regards. Look for Weber’s use of the idea of rationalization throughout this work.

After presenting the doctrines of Calvinism, Weber turns to three other ascetic Protestant religions, the first being Pietism. Historically, the doctrine of predestination was also the starting point of Pietism, and Pietism is closely linked to Calvinism. Pietists had a deep distrust of the Church of the theologians, and they tried to live “a life freed from all the temptations of the world and in all its details dictated by God’s will.” They looked for signs of rebirth in their daily activity. Pietism had a greater emphasis on the emotional side of religion than orthodox Calvinism accepted, and Lutheran strains of Pietism existed. However, insofar as the rational and ascetic elements of Pietism were dominant, the concepts necessary for Weber’s study remained. First, Pietists believed that the methodical development of one’s state of grace in terms of the law was a sign of grace. Secondly, they believed that God gives signs to those in states of perfection if they wait patiently. They too had an aristocracy of the elect, although there was some room for human activity to gain grace. We see that Pietism had an uncertain basis for its asceticism that made it less consistent than Calvinism. This is partly due to Lutheran influences, and partly due to emotionalism. This study thus explains some of the differences in the character of people under the influence of Pietism instead of Calvinism.

Methodism represented a combination of emotional yet ascetic religion with an increasing indifference to Calvinism’s doctrinal basis. Its strongest characteristic was its “methodical, systematic nature of conduct.” Method was primarily used to bring about the emotional act of conversion, and the religion had a strong emotional character. Good works were only the means of knowing one’s state of grace. The feeling of grace was necessary for salvation. From our viewpoint, the Methodist ethic had an uncertain foundation similar to Pietism’s. Like Calvinism, they looked at conduct to assess true conversion. However, as a late product, Methodism can generally be ignored, since it doesn’t add anything new to the idea of a calling. 

The Baptist sects (Baptists, Mennonites, and Quakers) form an independent source of ascetic Protestantism other than Calvinism; their ethics rest on a different basis. These sects are unified by the idea of a believers’ church, a community of only the true believers. This worked through individual revelation, and one had to wait for the Spirit and avoid sinful attachments to the world. Despite having a different foundation than Calvinism, they too rejected all idolatry of the flesh as a detraction from the respect due God. They believed in the continued relevance of revelation. Like the Calvinists, they devalued the sacraments as a means to salvation, which was an important form of rationalization. This led to the practice of worldly asceticism. An interest in economic occupations was increased by their rejection of politics; they embraced the ethic of “honesty is the best policy.” 

Now that we have seen the religious foundations of the Puritan idea of a calling, we can now look to the implications of this idea for the business world. The most important commonality among these sects is “the conception of the state of religious grace…as a status which marks off its possessor from the degradation of the flesh, from the world.” This could not be attained by magical sacraments or good works, but could only be proved through particular kinds of conduct. The individual had an incentive to methodically supervise his own state of grace in his conduct, and thus to practice asceticism. This meant planning one’s whole life systematically in accordance with God’s will. 

Commentary 

These forms of ascetic Protestantism are less central to Weber’s study than Calvinism, and it is therefore less important to get a complete understanding of the doctrine and lifestyle of their followers. These religions are less rational than Calvinism, because they have a strong emotional element that introduces some of the “magic” that Calvinism rejected. These religions do encourage systematic and methodical living, however, which is an important trait of rationalization. The most important tie among these different religions is their worldliness and their belief in signs of religious grace. This leaves these religions with a concept of the calling that is centered in the practical world. Look in the next chapter for how Weber connects these ideas back to the spirit of capitalism. 

It is important to be aware of the fact that Weber is not trying to present these beliefs in their full complexity. Each religion is being presented as what Weber called an “ideal-type.” An ideal-type is a simplified version of a concept or institution, which captures its most relevant characteristics for the study at hand. In this case, Weber is ignoring much of the diversity of religious belief among these different sects, as well as many important aspects of their theology. These issues are not relevant to his study, and simplifications are necessary because of the infinite number of perspectives that could be taken on each belief, and the infinite complexity of those beliefs. All of Weber’s characterizations, including the spirit of capitalism and the ethic of ascetic Protestantism, are ideal-types.

Chapter 5:

Weber now turns to the conclusion of his study, and attempts to understand the relationship between ascetic Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism. To understand how religious ideas translate into maxims for everyday conduct, one must look closely at the writings of ministers. This was the primary force in the formation of national character. For the purposes of this chapter, we can treat ascetic Protestantism as a single whole. The writings of Richard Baxter are a good model of its ethics. In his work, it is striking to see his suspicion of wealth as a dangerous temptation. His real moral objection though, is to relaxation, idleness, and distraction from the pursuit of a righteous life. Possessions are only objectionable because of this risk of relaxation; only activity promotes God’s glory. Thus, wasting time is the worst of sins, because it means that time is lost in promoting God’s will in a calling. Baxter preaches hard and continual mental or bodily work. This is because labor is an acceptable ascetic technique in the Western tradition, and because labor came to be seen as an end in itself, ordained as such by God. This does not change, even for those people who are wealthy, because everyone has a calling in which they should labor, and taking the opportunities for profit that God provides is part of that calling. To wish to be poor is similar to wishing to be sick, and both are morally unacceptable. 

Weber then attempts to clarify the ways in which the Puritan idea of the calling and asceticism influenced the development of the capitalistic way of life. First, asceticism opposed the spontaneous enjoyment of life and its opportunities. Such enjoyment leads people away from work in a calling and religion. Weber argues, “That powerful tendency toward uniformity of life, which today so immensely aids the capitalistic interest in the standardization of production, had its ideal foundations in the repudiation of all idolatry of the flesh.” Furthermore, the Puritans rejected any spending of money on entertainment that didn’t “serve God’s glory.” They felt a duty to hold and increase their possessions. It was ascetic Protestantism that gave this attitude its ethical foundation. It had the psychological effect of freeing the acquisition if goods from traditionalist ethics’ inhibitions. Asceticism also condemned dishonesty and impulsive greed. The pursuit of wealth in itself was bad, but attaining it as the result of one’s labor was a sign of God’s blessing. 

Thus, the Puritan outlook favored the development of rational bourgeois economic life, and “stood at the cradle of the modern economic man.” It is true that once attained, wealth had a secularizing effect. In fact, we see that the full economic effects of these religious movements actually came after the peak of religious enthusiasm. “The religious roots died out slowly, giving way to utilitarian worldliness.” However, these religious roots left its more secular successor an “amazingly good” conscience about acquiring money, as long as it was done legally. The religious asceticism also gave the businessmen industrious workers, and assured him that inequality was part of God’s design. Thus, one of the major elements of the spirit of modern capitalism, rational conduct based on the idea of a calling, was “born” from the spirit of Christian asceticism. The same values exist in both, with the spirit of capitalism simply lacking the religious basis. 

Weber observes, “The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so.” Asceticism helped build the “tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order.” People born today have their lives determined by this mechanism. Their care for external goods has become “an iron cage.” Material goods have gained an unparalleled control over the individual. The spirit of religious asceticism “has escaped from the cage,” but capitalism no longer needs its support. The “idea of duty in one’s calling prowls about in our lives like the ghost of dead religious beliefs.” People even stop trying to justify it at all. 

In conclusion, Weber mentions some of the areas that a more complete study would have to explore. First, one would have to explore the impact of ascetic rationalism on other areas of life, and its historical development would have to be more rigorously traced. Furthermore, it would be necessary to investigate how Protestant asceticism was itself influenced by social conditions, including economic conditions. He says, “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.” 

Commentary 

In this chapter, Weber attempts to connect asceticism with the modern capitalistic spirit. His first describes how the Puritan ethic encouraged hard work and the pursuit of profit. These claims are closely linked to Weber’s observations until now. These ascetic Protestants were looking for signs of their own salvation, and their concept of the calling made them look for those signs in worldly achievements. Spending their money on luxuries was disrespectful to God, and they were expected to pour any profits back into their callings. These values are all closely linked to the capitalistic ethic, and Weber does a good job of drawing out the sources of these values. However, the next connection Weber makes is more troubling. Weber says that from this ethic, a system of capitalism emerged that no longer required ascetic values to sustain itself. These values became the capitalist spirit, and now we are all forced to follow them. However, Weber does not tell the story of how the capitalist system emerged, and by what mechanism ascetic Puritan values were replaced by something else. This suggests a gap in Weber’s theoretical model. Do you consider this to be a serious gap, or is its content suggested in other parts of his work (such as Chapter 2, on the spirit of capitalism)? 

This section also suggests that Weber’s attitude toward the modern capitalistic system is ambivalent at best. Notice his use of the imagery of an “iron cage” to describe the situation of individuals in the modern world. They are trapped in a larger system of institutions and values that define their opportunities in life. While capitalism needed ascetic Protestantism in order to become powerful, once it gained that power it took on a life of its own. We see, then, Weber’s belief that capitalism’s development was contingent on historical circumstances such as the Reformation. We also see Weber’s belief that culture and institutions play an important role in defining people’s values and opportunities.