The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism (PESC) was originally published by Max Weber in two parts in
1904-05. Weber later revised and
re-published the book in 1920 as part of a more comparative study, Economic Ethics of the World Religions.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is not only a theory of the rise of
capitalism. As Weber says it is more
about the role of religion in economic life, which addresses only one part of
the rise of capitalism.
One very important
aspect in The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism is its ideal (rather than material) perception. Weber
is often opposed to Karl Marx in this regard. Marx argued that social existence
shapes consciousness, not vice versa.
Weber's position is more complex and bilateral:
He holds that ideas
and perceptions play neither a wholly autonomous nor a purely passive role in
history and society.
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism Weber wrote:
"Not ideas, but
material and ideal interests, directly govern men's conduct. Yet very frequently the "world
images" that have been created by ideas have, like switchmen, determined
the tracks along which action has been pushed by the dynamic of interest".
The central ideas
posed by Weber in The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism have
to do with several important issues.
One aspect of the book has to do with Weber's notion of rationality and rationalization.
Weber sees capitalism has a part of a wider strive to organize society and
economic life in a rational manner. Protestantism comes into the picture as a
parallel attempt in modernity to organize religious life in a rational manner.
Another aspect of The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism is question of
capitalism's justification. Weber finds the answer to this question in the
three-sided relationship between modern capitalism (a system for
organizing economic life), the spirit of capitalism (the set of ideas
that grant modern capitalism justification), and the Protestant Ethic (a
religious attitude toward this world and the next upon which the spirit of
capitalism is based).
