The Sociology Book

223

The Protestant world view was shaped

by the concept that worldly duties show

reverence to God and promote his glory.

Material success is interpreted as God’s

approval—a reward for effort, thrift,

sobriety, and other “correct” ways of living.

hard-working, austere, and self-
controlled individuals are in their
actions, the greater will be the
economic rewards they reap; and
the more wealth they accumulate,
the more this is understood as proof
of their religious purity and the
promise of salvation.
The inverse of the Protestant
ethic is to shy away from work—
to commit the sins of idleness
and indolence and to fail to
prosper financially.

Secularization
With the steady decline of formal
religion (secularization) from the
Industrial Revolution onward, the
Protestant ethic that underpins
the “spirit of capitalism” has been
eroded. When Weber claims that
early Protestants “wanted to work
in a calling” but that today “we are
forced to,” he is suggesting that
although the values of hard work,
self-control, and self-discipline
upon which capitalism is founded
have remained and are valued
socially, their religious roots have
disappeared from view.
In identifying the strong affinity
between the work ethic contained
within Reformation Protestantism—
particularly the teachings of
John Calvin—and the spirit of
capitalism, Weber draws attention
to a great historical irony. The
Protestant Reformation was
intended to salvage the message of
God from the corrupting influences
of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nearly 500 years later, formal
religion has gone into significant
decline. What began as an attempt
to salvage the Word has given
rise to a work ethic that has been
essential to the proliferation
of capitalism. And as capitalism
has developed, the power of formal
religion to influence our actions has
greatly diminished.

More than 100 years after

its original publication in German,

Weber’s theory of the Protestant

ethic remains hotly debated among

contemporary sociologists and

historians. The Italian sociologist

Luciano Pellicani, for example, has

argued that the spirit of capitalism

arose much earlier than Weber

suggests and that it was already

present in medieval society.

In Weber’s defense, English

historian Guy Oakes points to

the fact that medieval capitalism

was fueled by greed rather than

by the sober, mundane sense

of duty promoted by Calvinism.

However, the fact that industrial

capitalism first took hold in the

Protestant countries of Europe,

such as the Netherlands, Britain,

and Germany, confirms the

link that Weber made between

Protestantism and the enterprising

impulse that was necessary for the

development of capitalism. And

WORK AND CONSUMERISM

in The Romantic Ethic and the

Spirit of Modern Consumerism

(1987), Colin Campbell uses Weber’s

theory to account for the rise of

consumer culture in Europe

and the US. This extension of

Weber’s ideas confirms that his

religion-inspired account of the

rise of capitalism continues to

exert a powerful influence over

sociological thought. ■

Fulfillment of worldly duties

is... the only way to live

acceptably to God.

Max Weber

Honor your

calling and

you shall be

rewarded

Hard work

Self-control

Discipline

Worldly

duties: