Part 1: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
According to Weber, “the Protestant Ethic must have been the most powerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude toward life we have here called the spirit of capitalism” (Weber). The Protestant Ethic encompassed a calling in which there was a divine purpose related to an individual’s job or profession. Furthermore, the Protestant Ethic led people to believe in pre-destination and hard-work. On the micro-level, individuals did what they had in order to make money. People believed it was their duty to do what they had to in order to make money; it was not based on pure greediness. It was a firmly held belief that the responsibility of a person given by God was to make money. A person’s job was to be in the most successful position he/she could attain.
In society, only certain individuals were successful because success and wealth were pre-destined. On the macro level, society had an established hierarchy based on wealth and income. The wealthier a person; the higher up the hierarchy they were. This social aspect encouraged people to establish a strong work ethic on the micro level because wealth and success were a blessing. Therefore, people worked hard in order to attain
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that blessing from God. Since wealth was favored on the macro level, people worked harder individually in order to achieve personal success. Likewise, charity was discouraged because people were expected to take care of themselves. Weber said, the manner of life of people was “well adapted to the peculiarities of capitalism could be selected at all…it had to originate somewhere, and not in isolated individuals alone, but as a way of common to whole groups of men” (Weber).
In other words, he believed the characteristics of capitalism already existed within people which allowed them to exchange in the capitalistic world. The existence of these characteristics can be labelled as the spirit of capitalism. According to Weber, capitalism dominates “economic life, educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of survival of the fittest” (Weber,433). It hallmarks the ideas of free market, profit motive, and private
ownership. Like the ideals of the Protestant Ethic, capitalism also encourages seeking profit. Therefore, the idea of success and wealth was levered into capitalism which motived profit and wealth. A rational and systematic explanation as to why saving were encouraged in capitalism as well as the Protestant Ethic is provided by the example of Benjamin Franklin used by Weber. Franklin says, “he that loses five shillings, not only loses the sum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old, will amount to a considerable sum of money” (Weber). Therefore, there was an expectation of savings. People were not encouraged to go spend their money just because they had money. Rather, they were encouraged to invest that money into savings. This exemplifies the spirit of capitalism because capitalism like the Protestant Ethic also encouraged investing moment and saving it in order to maximize profits. According to Weber, the Protestant Ethic was the most powerful lever into the expansion of capitalism. He validates his point by providing ideals and beliefs that were held by the Protestants and comparing them to the ideals seen in the spirit of capitalism. Part 2: The Credit Card/Banking Ethic and the Spirit of McDonaldization The Credit Card/Banking Ethic must have been the most powerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude toward life which we have here called the spirit of “McDonaldization.” According to Ritzer, McDonaldization is “the process by which principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world” (Ritzer, 1). The credit card/bank ethic meant there was a minimization of the amount of cash of money that a person needed in order to make a purchase. Furthermore, it allowed customers to make purchases faster because they do not have to count money or find the needed change. This aspect of credit cards and the banking ethic encompassed the spirit of McDonaldization because it allowed the companies such as McDonalds to do business faster. It also allows the customers to make purchases faster by swiping there card. There is no need to wait on a person looking with seventy-nine cents in penny others impatiently wait in line. The element of McDonaldization encompassed in the spirit of McDonaldization established by the credit card/bank ethic is efficiency. As a result of credit cards/banks customers are allowed to get from one point to another much faster. For instances, they may get their desired commodity without having to have the money right there and then. They can put on their credit card; they can pay it back later. This means restaurants are less likely to have customers waiting around for someone to bring by money so they can buy food. Therefore, this allows customers to get what they need and out of the way of other potential customers. The creation of credit card was also significant because it allowed people to make transactions by decreasing the fake money that gets transferred around into the system. Use of credit cards and banks ensures that the money that is being transferred is real. This technological system was significant it allows companies like McDonalds to seek and make profit. This spirit of McDonaldization was ultimately accepted because it gave companies control. While cash is still used, the use of credit cards has become widespread and it ensure that less people can device the companies that attempt to McDonaldize. The credit card/bank ethic gave McDonalds and other companies like it a sense of control. This was so because the credit card bank ethic made transactions easier and the likelihood of the companies being deceived or not receiving their money drastically decreased. The credit card/bank ethic was a significant lever into McDonaldization because the credit card/bank ethic allowed customers to not have to worry about the amount of money they needed to carry around. Therefore, customers had the credit card which they could charge for the amount they had to pay. Furthermore, this created a safer environment because people did not have to carry around large amounts of cash on them. Nor did they have to worry about how much they would need for a transaction. Therefore, the credit card increased predictability by decreasing the unpredictability. This was a significant aspect for McDonaldization because it allowed customers to make purchases without out needing the specific amount on hand or having to know how much cash they would need. Part 3: Comparison of the Two Theories Capitalism and McDonaldization have many similarities and differences. According to Weber, capitalism dominates “economic life, educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of survival of the fittest” (Weber,433). Whereas, McDonaldization is “the process by which principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world” (Ritzer, 1). Both of these systems work in order to maximize profit and for success. However, capitalism attempts to achieve this through a free market, profit motive, and private ownership. Whereas, McDonaldization attempts to the same through the key components of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Free Market is “the buying and selling of goods and services unencumbered by government rules, regulations, and planning” (CSJ, 271). Capitalism also encompasses private ownership of property which means the individual who owns the property vests the right to use it however they want to. The last important aspect of capitalism is pursuit of profit. It refers to a “system of trade in which those selling goods are permitted to charge an amount greater than their costs in producing or buying the good or service” (CJS,272). McDonaldization encompasses efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Efficiency refers to an “optimum method for getting from one point to another” (Ritzer, 13). On the other hand, calculability “emphasizes the quantitative aspects of products sold and services offered” (Ritzer, 14). Predictability is the “assurance that services will be the same over time and in all locales” (Ritzer, 14). Whereas, control is the exertion of force by the companies. Capitalism emphasizes the idea of wealth. Whereas, McDonaldization favor wealth and progress through a much more on the process of expansion and customer satisfaction. Both of these are similar ideas because they favor wealth and progression in society through various means. McDonaldization exists on a macro-basis because it is big companies advocating to individuals. Individuals are part of the system. Whereas, capitalism could be a mechanism applied by individuals and on the micro-level. The Protestant Ethic tends to favor people to work harder in order to obtain wealth. Therefore, the important ideals of the Protestant Ethic include a calling for people to work hard, a divine purpose related to their job/profession, pre-destination, and hard-work. Whereas, the credit card ethic makes the lives of people much easier. It is not asking the people to work harder; rather, a system has been place in order to create efficiency for the companies on the macro-level and individuals on the micro-level. On the contrary, the Protestant Ethic forces individuals to hard working on the micro-level or individually in order to be successful on the macro-level. Of the two theories, the credit card ethic seems much more plausible. Weber’s theory askes the individual to work on a micro-level in order to achieve success. However, the world we live in today is much more customer oriented. Therefore, companies have to work had on the macro-level and as a larger part in order to be successful and inherit a customer-basis. Capitalism dominates “economic life, educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of survival of the fittest” (Weber, 433). The survival of the fittest aspect of capitalism prevents it from being the best theory because society today does not work like this. People with more wealth and success are better off. However, McDonaldization and the success and expansion of bigger companies and on the macro-level can only be attained if they advocate to individuals. McDonaldization is able to advocate to individuals through its ideals of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Likewise, credit ethic makes it easier for individuals to be a part of the economic system.
... that they affect one another. A person who lives by a lower income will not have that mines and chances of become wealthy. A person in the other spectrum, which is born into a higher class, will most likely stay wealth. This leads to an endless cycle of generations staying within the working class realm. The likely hood of a person moving up a class is rare but it does exist. People need to be pushed and have a drive to keep going and to keep trying. That is why we are told we have an equal chance in life so we can all strive for better even though in reality we do not all have an equal chance. But nonetheless people should try to become successful even if they never make it in life because a life without purpose, goals, or ambitions is a meaningless life. As humans we need a reason to live, another day for people to take advantage and make the best of it.
and it manifests itself in a multitude of cultural and social ways.” The author discussed the problems that occur from economic and social classes. The purpose of this argument is to debate on what kind of people will be successful in life. Everyone has a shot at being successful, and that they do with it is
...the birth of capitalism liberated the goals and means of work. Capitalism allowed individuals to own and manage their own business and reflected the secular mind frame derived from the Renaissance Era. The individual is the unit on which capitalism is based. Bonds between merchants was based on free competition rather that the need to trade. This liberating system of economy allows rise for the individual to direct his own business.
Capitalism, is among one of the most important concepts and mainframe of this application paper. According to the 2009 film “Capitalism a Love Story,” capitalism is considered as taking and giving, but mostly taking. Capitalism can also be defined as a mode of production that produces profit for the owners (Dillon, 72). It is based on, and ultimately measured by the inequality and competition between the capitalist owners and the wage workers. A major facet of capitalism is constantly making and designing new things then selling afterwards (Dillon, 34).Capitalism has emerged as far back as the middle ages but had fully flowered around the time o...
Some people may be born into a family with wealth, and that is acceptable. Some people on the other hand, are not born into a family with wealth, and that is acceptable too. The work that families have done to get to the level they are in, are just a cushion. People should try to build their own reputation or success. Even if people work toward their goals of success, it could take years to reach, it isn’t something that happens over night usually. The way they act or present themselves in certain circumstances will determine if they succeed or fail. As much as people want to control every step toward that, there are things that are out of everyone's control. Every action they do, every decision they make, they can not control everything. There are certain things that can put a halt toward success, things many do not see coming till it happens. Oedipus had no idea that he was the one causing the sickness that was spreading through his kingdom. He was doing well as a king, but certain things can change that. His curse put on him when he was younger, was out of his control. The priest reminds Oedipus of his success depict the sickness surrounding them, “You saved us from Sphinx…”(40). Success may be the one thing you can control, but at the same time have no idea what could come
...the Puritans and Quakers of the previous two centuries? Could they embody the 'spirit' of capitalism without actually being capitalist? (Henretta) Hernetta states that Weber considered the religions one of the first promoters and the biggest influence in the development of capitalism in America.
1). Weber and Marx views differ when it comes to their interpretations about the origins and dynamics of capitalism, Weber’s view focuses on the Protestant reformation and the spirit of capitalism in the west and how “the widespread influence of Protestantism after the reformation helped explain why full blown rational capitalism developed where and when it did” (Mcintosh pg. 115). Although he doesn’t believe that Protestantism caused for the creation of capitalism he does believe that Calvinism a branch of Protestantism plays a roll due to the effects it shaped upon these people and their protestant ethics. Mcintosh helps to explain that “in such a time the religious forces which express themselves through such channels are the decisive influences in the formation of national character” (Mcintosh pg. 122). In other words due to the asceticism and the spirit of capitalism amongst these religious followers they abstained from various worldly pleasures to obtain their spiritual “calling”. In decreasing pleasures and increasing work, production and profits, they were hopeful that they were increasing their chances of going to heaven due to their belief about predestination which states “in theology, the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others” (www.wikipedia.com). Thus they followed the doctrine precisely, which they believed could possibly decrease their chances of being the individuals who were damned to hell. Although Wesley argued “I fear that wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. So although the form of religion remains, the spirit i...
In his book The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Max Weber analyzes the influence of the Protestantism guide line on capitalism spirit. Since all human work is not parfait, Max Weber’s book contain strength and weakness.
Once capitalism came about, it was like a machine that you were being pulled into without an alternative option. Currently, whether we agree or disagree, for example if you want to survive you need to have a job and you need to make money. Weber believed that social actions were becoming based on efficiency instead of the old types of social actions, which were based on lineage or kinship. Behavior had become dominated by goal-oriented rationality and less by tradition and values. According to Web...
Weber, Max, (trans. Talcott Parsons), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (2nd edn.), London, Allen & Unwin, 1976.
While growing up in Germany Max Weber witnessed the expansion of cities, the aristocracy being replaced by managerial elite, companies rapidly rising, and the industrial revolution. These changes in Germany, as well as the rest of the western world, pushed Weber to analyze the phenomenon, specifically to understand what makes capitalism in the west different and how capitalism was established. In The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Weber explains that capitalism is all about profit and what creates the variance between capitalism in the west and the rest of the world is rationalization, “the process in which social institutions and social interaction become increasingly governed by systematic, methodical procedures and rules”
...h century historian, claims these strict, hardworking philosophies of puritanical Protestantism laid the foundations of the capitalist society we have today.
Max Weber’s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is arguably one of the most important works in all of sociology and social theory, both classical and modern. In the decades since its inception, this work has gone on to influence generations of social scientists with its analysis of the effect of Protestantism on the development of modern industrial capitalism. This work, examining such broad topics as religion, economics, and history, is not only an interesting and insightful look into the history of the development of capitalism, but a major work in laying a foundation for future works of social theory. Max Weber’s main contention in this work is that what he calls the “Protestant Ethic” played a vital role in fostering the development of industrial capitalism in Europe and the United States. The Protestant Ethic was the idea found in some sects of Protestantism that one had a duty to God to succeed in their life’s work, but were bound to a lifestyle of asceticism that prevented them from spending the wealth they earned on themselves.
Karl Marx, in the Capital, developed his critique of capitalism by analyzing its characteristics and its development throughout history. The critique contains Marx’s most developed economic analysis and philosophical insight. Although it was written in 1850s, its values still serve an important purpose in the globalized world and maintains extremely relevant in the twenty-first century.
Weber also thought there was a link between capitalism and the Protestant work ethic. Specifically he looked at Calvinism. Calvinism was a simple way of life in which you were to do good for others. The way into heaven was to do the greatest good for the greatest number of