Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism

By Weber, Max

Book Id: WPLBN0000162395
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.6 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism
Author:	Weber, Max
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Literature, Literature & thought, Writing.
Collections:	Classic Literature Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	World Ebook Library


Citation APA MLA Chicago Weber, M. (n.d.). Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Excerpt
A glance at the occupational statistics of any country of mixed religious composition brings to light with remarkable frequency a situation which has several times provoked discussion in the Catholic press and literature, and in Catholic congresses in Germany, nam ely, the fact that business leaders and owners of capital, as well as the higher grades of skilled labor, and even more the higher technically and commercially trained personnel of modern enterprises, are overwhelmingly Protestant. This is true not only in cases where the difference in religion coincides with one of nationality, and thus of cultural development, as in Eastern Germany between Germans and Poles. The same thing is shown in the figures of religious affiliation almost wherever capitalism, at t he time of its great expansion, has had a free hand to alter the social distribution of the population in accordance with its needs, and to determine its occupational structure. The more freedom it has had, the more clearly is the effect shown. It is true that the greater relative participation of Protestants in the ownership of capital, in management, and the upper ranks of labor in great modern industrial and commercial enterprises, may in part be explained in terms of historical circumstances, which extend far back into the past, and in which religious affiliation is not a cause of the economic conditions, but to a certain extent appears to be a result of them. Participation in the above economic functions usually involves some previous ownership of ca pital, and generally an expensive education; often both. These are to-day largely dependent on the possession of inherited wealth, or at least on a certain degree of material well being. A number of those sections of the old Empire which were most highly developed economically and most favored by natural resources and situation, in particular a majority of the wealthy towns went over to Protestantism in the sixteenth century The results of that circumstance favor the Protestants even to-day in their strug gle for economic existence. There arises thus the historical question: why were the districts of highest economic development at the same time particularly favorable to a revolution in the Church? The answer is by no means so simple as one might think.

Table of Contents
· CHAPTER 1. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION · CHAPTER II. THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM · CHAPTER III. LUTHER'S CONCEPTION OF THE CALLING · CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF WORLDLY ASCETICISM · CHAPTER V. ASCETICISM AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM