The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism

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Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations demonstrates the two authors arguments for a capitalistic society and potential threats to a capitalist form of social organization. Max Weber explains how religion impacted a capitalistic society while Adam Smith argued that the division of labor is the most important aspect in a capitalistic society. Max Weber suggests that traditionalism is a major threat of capitalism as it results in poor productivity. Adam Smith argues the fact that slaves, serfdom, tariffs and other taxes, the use of money, and inherited land can challenge a capitalistic society. Max Weber suggests that business leaders, business owners, highly skilled laborers, and personnel …show more content…

A way in which a modern employer encourages work is through an increase of pay. Instead of the employee working harder, the employee actually works less when pay increases. Their belief is that they can minimize their workload while still making the same amount of money. This shows that man just wants to earn as much as he needs and wants to continue to live as he is used to living. Reducing wages to increase productivity will not work either as the worker can become poor. Labor must be conducted as an end in itself. Capitalistic enterprises can still have traditionalistic character. The business can be a capitalistic organization, but traditional in its way of life. This traditional way of life was broken by getting more personal with customers and putting those who could not compete out of business. Business must also be conducted as an end in itself. Adam Smith begins his talk on a capitalistic society by mentioning the division of labor. Adam Smith states that the division of labor increases productivity. The division of labor generates specialized knowledge of a particular job. The laborer will be more engaged in the task at hand. The division of labor also saves time because the laborer focuses on one task, rather than several, which increases productivity in that single task. New inventions can be formed as laborers are focused on ways to make the task at hand

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