The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Capitalism as a pervasive economic system was not inevitable. The ideas underlying such a way of organizing society must have originated somewhere.

In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the German historian Max Weber attempts to trace the economic and philosophical development of capitalism, first by identifying what he calls “the spirit of capitalism.” For Weber this is best encapsulated by Benjamin Franklin’s well-known aphorism “time is money.” This apparently innocuous statement only makes sense in a wage economy, where one is comfortable thinking about time as something that can be bought. Indeed, this and other of Franklin aphorisms paint a picture of a world we might recognize, in which making money is commonly seen not a means to a better life, but as a goal in and of itself. Virtues such as honesty and trustworthiness are still important, but mainly because they’re qualities that are profitable.

This rational utilitarian view has its roots, Weber contends, in earlier Protestant thought. One of the key ideas that the Reformation introduced was the idea of a calling, which is an idea that compelled believers to perform work on Earth in the service of God. Over time this ethic of work came to be applied to more and more material concerns, including the seeking of profit. But the idea of work as a moral duty never completely disappeared—rather, it became the spiritual basis of industrial capitalism.

Today The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is regarded as a classic in sociology, and was named the fourth most important sociological book of the 20th century by the International Sociological Association.