The origins of capitalism by Max Weber

Résumé du document

In a way, we can say that all Weber's work is dominated by the question of the origins of capitalism: Why capitalism was born, and how it eventually emerged not only as a dominant mode or exclusive economic behavior but even more broadly as a cultural model marking all spheres of social life, both spiritual and material, in modern Europe? The question posed and solved, however, according to a specific conceptual, it will remind me, to ensure the originality of his contribution and also circumscribes the limits. Moreover, precisely because this issue is central for him, he has continued to return to it throughout his work, from numerous angles of attack, but these different approaches are consistent if not always perfectly consistent among themselves. The following presentation does not therefore claim to be comprehensive. It is limited to only those aspects of Weber's elaborations that have made history and debate, inspiring research as well as criticism, focusing particularly on the work of Weber that has the most ink spilled: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Extraits

[...] On the other hand, the renunciation of the enjoyment of material goods, money earned should not be squandered, but saved to be reinvested in turn in the work: it must take on the gain that which is strictly necessary for a life simple and sober, without excess or ostentation - which implies a certain degree of asceticism. Finally, the justification for personal enrichment, not as an occasion of idleness and pleasure, but as a manifestation and reward professionalism and zeal to put practice-oriented. The conditions that led to the formation and development of such a "spirit" of such subjectivity, specifically capitalism, known by the Weber thesis. [...]

[...] Thus defined, capitalism is, according to Weber, a universal reality: "But as far as economic documents back, found in all civilizations of the world a 'capitalism', understood in this sense and operations 'capitalist' even if the calculation of capital is a rationalization rather mediocre. This is the case of China, India, Babylon, Egypt, the ancient Mediterranean, the Middle Ages and modern times. It will be understood that, like many other economists, historians, sociologists, both before and after him, Weber treats here capitalism and development of merchant capital in the different forms it can take in the pre-capitalist formations. [...]

[...] 'Foreword', op. cit., p Ibid, pages 495-496. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [1904-1905/1920], op. cit., page 45, note 45. "Foreword", op. [...]

[...] It is characterized, first, by the exclusive concern of a coherent combination of means to achieve a specific purpose, regardless of the value of the latter on the other hand, the 'economy' means used relatively to the end pursued: it is to get maximum results with minimum means. Obviously, such a rational organization of labor presupposes a whole series of other conditions, both objective and subjective. The first and probably most important is the reverse of the work itself (formally free): the expropriation of the same producers that Weber apprehends more positively in the form of private ownership of means of production, which Marx l 'essential capital as production report. [...]

[...] The matrix of such a "spirit" resides, according to him, in what he called "asceticism intraworldly" invented and circulated by Calvinism, but if by some puritanical sects, Methodists, Pietist and Anabaptist. In Calvinism, because of his curious theory of predestination, the believer can not escape the anguish of his hi, make sure to receive the divine grace necessary for the latter, in devoting themselves body and soul its own economic success, while obviously respecting the divine law. For the chosen distinguished precisely by the fact that it manifests and enhances the glory of God through action in the world itself by the fact that, living faithfully by divine law, it contributes to the prosperity of the world ensuring the success of its terrestrial business, including its business enterprises, by hard work and effort of all the moments are therefore required for a genuine religious duty. [...]