The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

by Max Weber

Overview

Weber wrote that capitalism in northern Europe evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. The Protestant ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism. Religious devotion, however, usually accompanied a rejection of worldly affairs, including the pursuit of wealth and possessions. But that was not the case with Protestantism. Weber addresses this apparent paradox in this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781515412793
Publisher:	Dancing Unicorn Books
Publication date:	12/09/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	246
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Stephen Kalberg is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University and an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Stephen Kalberg

Translator's Preface by Stephen Kalberg

Glossary

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Part I. The Problem

1. Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification

2. The Spirit of Capitalism

3. Luther's Conception of the Calling

a. Task of the Investigation

Part II. The Vocational Calling of Ascetic Protestantism

4. The Religious Foundations of This-Worldly Asceticism

a. Calvinism

b. Pietism

c. Methodism

d. The Baptizing Sects: The Quakers, Baptists, and Mennonites

5. Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism

"The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism"

Prefatory Remarks to Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion

Editorial Reviews

Max Weber is the one undisputed canonical figure in contemporary sociology.

Times Higher Education Supplement

Arguing that classic works should be translated every generation, and that the essay here was last translated into English some 70 years ago, Kalberg (sociology, Boston U.) strives to make the text accessible to undergraduates and general readers and to retain the integrity of the work with a close-to-the-text translation. In addition to the essay itself, which was published in a two parts in a social science journal in 1904-05, he has included two related documents by Weber (1864-1920). Cited in . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Sociologists interested in Max Weber can count themselves fortunate these days with the recent appearance of the second revised edition of Stephen Kalberg's new translation of Weber's work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. . . . Those teaching upper division undergraduate and graduate courses in social theory or the sociology of religion will find this volume an ideal introduction to Weber's work and to the continuing controversies surrounding his famous thesis. At $14.95 in paper-bound edition, it is more than worth the price."— Donald A. Nielsen, State University of New York Oneota

From the Publisher