Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism

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Max Weber – Exam 3
The German Sociologist Max Weber was considered one of the world’s greatest sociologist. In his work “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, Max Weber declared that religion was one of the agents of social change. In his piece he discusses some of the norms and ideas pertaining to Protestantism, and Calvinism that later develop the meaning of “the spirit of capitalism”. In “The Protestant Ethic …”, Weber focused on how the “calling” combined with ascetic restrictions led to the development of capitalism.
To begin, Max Weber determines that there are three fundamental components to the “Spirit of Protestantism”. The first one is predestination, or the belief that god had already chosen who was damned and who would be saved (Appelrouth and Edles 2016). He continues, that each person had (or was assigned) a …show more content…

People became capitalists not as a result of their religion, but due to their religious ideas, and norms. People began to validate themselves for their hard work, and focused on rationalization of the world (Weber in Appelrouth and Edles 2016). With the rationalization of life, individuals let go of their traditional spiritual drive. Everything was highly calculated and controlled, there was an elimination of spontaneity, creativity, and autonomy. People began to validate themselves for their success, and no longer requiring God’s approval. People became mesmerized with commodity fetishism, and they acquired things for mere comfort, and pleasure. According to Weber, we got trapped in an “iron cage” instead of wearing a disposable “saint-like cloak” because we have become so dependent on our commodities, that they run our lives. So, although these modified ideas are unhealthy for our spiritual needs, they are beneficial to modern capitalism (Weber, in Appelrouth and Edles:

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