The Protestant Ethic

In: World policy journal: WPJ ; a publication of the World Policy Institute, Band 13, Heft 3, S. 35-39

Abstract

In an excerpt from Bell's The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, 20th Anniversary Edition (1996), it is noted that so much attention has been focused on the notion of the Protestant ethic that it has obscured the original intent of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), ie, to explain why, in the past 500 years, a total transformation of society occurred only in the West. The reason behind that transformation, according to Weber, is the rationalization of life. Weber contended that the rise of capitalism, a rational economic order, was made possible by the personality type generated by rational ascetic Protestantism, ie, a disciplined & work-oriented individual. The ideas of Werner Sombart are also discussed; he argued that the motivating force behind capitalism, & all human activity, is love of money. It is argued that while both Weber & Sombart dealt with the origins of capitalism, they did not discuss its structural transformations. One such transformation, the 20th century's shift from production to consumption as the basis of capitalism, is discussed, & it is concluded that the ascetic Protestant ethic has now been replaced by acquisitiveness. J. Ferrari