139
The village blacksmith held an
important place in the community,
according to Max Weber, because he
dealt frequently with many people in
the course of his God-given vocation.
See also: Economic man 52–53 ■ Economics and tradition 166–67 ■ Institutions in economics 206–07 ■
Market information and incentives 208–09 ■ Social capital 280
INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC REVOLUTIONS
in order to be saved. But Protestant
teachings, especially those stemming
from Calvinist Protestantism, claimed
that there was a pre-selected “elect”
destined to be saved, who would live
a virtuous life as a consequence of
being part of the elect. Their actions
in this physical life would not lead to
their salvation, but merely show that
they were already destined for
heaven. The Bible encourages hard
work and frugality, so Protestants
aimed to embody these qualities
and demonstrate that they were
among the saved, while everyone
else faced damnation. Forbidden to
buy luxuries, they reinvested their
profits back into their business.God-given vocations
Catholicism held that the only God-
given vocation was priesthood, but
Protestants thought that people
could be called to any of the secular
crafts and trades. The belief that
they were serving God encouraged
them to work with religious fervor,
leading them to produce more
goods and make more money.
Weber believed that the
Protestant faith led inevitably
to a capitalist economic society
because it gave believers the
chance to view the pursuit of profit
as evidence of devotion, rather than
of morally suspect motives such as
greed and ambition. The idea of
predestination also meant that
believers need not worry aboutsocial inequalities and poverty,
because material wealth was a sign
of spiritual wealth.
Weber’s argument can be
challenged, however. The leading
European power in the 16th and
17th centuries, and the first global
superpower, was the thoroughly
Catholic Spanish Empire. Other
conflicting cases can also be found
in the rise of Asian countries that
have never been Protestant, or even
Christian. Japan is the third largest
economy in the world, and China is
growing fast. ■Max Weber Karl Emil Maximilian Weber was
one of the founding fathers of
modern social science as well as
an economist. He was born in
1864 in Erfurt, Germany, and
was brought up in a prosperous,
cosmopolitan, and intellectual
family. His father was an outgoing
civil servant, while his mother
was a strict Calvinist Protestant.
Weber studied law at the
universities of Heidelberg and
Berlin, then held professorships
in economics at various German
universities until his father’s death
in 1897 left him too depressed to
teach. After volunteering forservice in World War I he
changed his political views
and became a prominent critic of
the Kaiser. Weber commanded
widespread respect in the
political establishment and
after the war helped write the
Weimar Republic’s constitution.
He resumed teaching, but in
1920 died of Spanish flu.Key works1904–05 The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism
1919 Politics as a Vocation
1923 General Economic HistoryGod helps those who
help themselves.
Max Weber