How convincing do you find Weber's analysis of the relationship between Protestantism and the rise of modern capitalism?

Résumé du document

Many sociologists have raised the issue of religion and economic behavior but it is Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, published in 1904 which has had the biggest impact on the history of sociological thought. The imminent German philosopher of the beginning of the 20th century believes that Protestantism and more precisely Calvinism has been a favorable factor in the development of modern capitalism. The prosperity of Holland and England in the 18th century, attended by the economic decline of Spain and Italy suggested that there was some relationship between the reformation and economic progress (Turner, 2000, 151).

In a detailed analysis, Weber argues that the different dogmas of the religion are closely linked to the emergence of the unique system of capitalism that emerged in the West. We will therefore question whether the religious variable explains why western capitalism has not developed anywhere outside the western civilization (Aron, 1967,215).

In the first part we will clarify the Weberian definitions of the key concepts of the theory, which will then lead us to the analysis of Weber's thesis and finally, we will highlight the limits of his observations by looking both at various academic criticisms and by looking at two capitalist developments: Geneva during Calvin's epoch and contemporary USA.

Extraits

[...] He analyses the motivation for the behaviour of individuals in religious groups and its link to capitalism. Weber's curiosity stems from the doctoral dissertation of one of his pupils Martin Offenbacher and from his Baden 2 surroundings where he notices the rise of a modern protestant bourgeoisie who represented 60% of the total population (ibid, 152) It is often said that Weber tried to refute Marx to explain economic behaviour by religions instead of presupposing religion as the superstructure of the society whose infrastructure consisted of the relations of production. [...]

[...] Weber's thesis In order to explain the link between Calvinism and capitalism, Weber turned from the method of agreement to the method of difference and embarked on an ambitious series of comparative studies all directed to the question: why did modern rational bourgeois capitalism appear as a dominant phenomenon only in the modern West? (Turner, 2000,44). Weber uses explicative comprehension in order to establish the link between Protestantism and more precisely Calvinist moral rigor and the establishment of modern capitalism. [...]

[...] For him there was no sign of puritan influence and on the contrary, the first reaction of those Puritans who had enrich themselves was to abandon Puritanism (ibid,164). Besides, Rachfahl underlines misinterpretations of writings such as Baxter's writings and Brentano reinforces this stating that Calvinists were opposed to capitalism and that Weber had misunderstood Franklin's position. Franklin held ideas of Aristotle based on virtuous pleasure, moral rather than physical. Finally, Brentano's last critique, later taken on by HM Robertson was that Weber's idea of the notion of the Calling was peculiar to Lutheranism was altogether incorrect. [...]

[...] However, Weber oversimplified Calvinism and his arguments contain several flaws. It appears clear that 6 Weber fails to take into consideration social and political contexts such as the favourable economic climate of Geneva at the time. Moreover, historical discrepancies punctuated by textual misunderstandings have to be taken into consideration. Finally, when looking at contemporary societies, Weber's worldly asceticism and modern capitalism do not act as a pair. On the contrary monetary exhibitionism is put at the forefront of social interactions. [...]

[...] How convincing do you find Weber's analysis of the relationship between Protestantism and the rise of modern capitalism? Many sociologists have raised the issue of religion and economic behaviour but it is Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, published in 1904 which has had the biggest impact on the history of sociological thought. The imminent German philosopher of the beginning of the 20th century believes that Protestantism and more precisely Calvinism has been a favourable factor in the development of modern capitalism. [...]