In
the opening chapter of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, titled "religious affiliation and
social stratification" Max Weber notes how statistics show that in mixed
religion societies protestant tend to rank higher in socio-economic stances. This
for Weber links Protestantism with capitalism and he is seeking for an answer
for the link between them. In other words, Weber argues that religious beliefs
have to do with economic practices and socio-economic position (for additional elaboration
see Max Weber's theory of stratification)
Throughout
"religious affiliation and social stratification" Weber shows how
differences between Catholicism and Protestantism can account for different professional
and economical attitudes produced by different environments which are, as a result,
more or less adapted to the capitalist system. Weber tries to account for these differences
as the basis for his whole theory in of The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
One
explanation offered for differences between Catholicism and Protestantism is
that Catholic people are less concerned with material gains and are more
focused on gains in the afterlife. But Weber thinks this does not fully account
for the differences. He holds that the fact Protestantism works better with
capitalism is due to an intimate connection between the two, making them two
aspects of the same thing (hint: rationalism).
From
this point in "religious affiliation and social stratification" Weber
attempts to show how different features of Protestantism are adapted to, in
fact yielded from, capitalism. His main argument which will stand at the core
occupation of The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism is that
the characteristics of a certain faith can transform into conditions of economic
(and not just economic) personal and social behavior. An additional aspect of
this theory is how it can link personal belief and religious belongingness to
social statues and stratification.
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