welcome to the macat multimedia series a macat analysis of max weber 'he's the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism is Protestant Christianity the cause of modern capitalism German sociologist Max Weber believed so his 1905 book the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism was concerned with how Protestant thought underpinned the development of capitalism weber argued that the spirit of capitalism lay behind the unplanned growth of capitalism in the 19th century he defined this spirit as the belief in pursuing ever-increasing profit from economic activity importantly Weber believed that this spirit does not tolerate greed but
rather encourages hard work to make and invest profits capitalists should refrain from living luxuriously but should always prioritize work Weber believed that this spirit developed directly from ascetic Protestantism ascetic beliefs require that people renounce physical pleasures and comfort in the pursuit of greater spiritual fulfillment in particular Weber considered ascetic Protestantism 'he's idea of a calling this is the notion that humans have one task set by god and one proves one's faith to God by working at it this for weber underpins the spirit of capitalism in addition weber paid particular attention to capitalism's relationship to Calvinism
a branch of Protestantism Calvinism held that whether someone would go to heaven or hell was predestined view by earning greater wealth followers could convince themselves that they were destined for salvation to understand vapers view on the growth of capitalism let's consider an analogy to boys James and Peter decide to set up lemonade stands each starts with three dollars which they use to buy three jugs of lemonade each jug of lemonade sells for a total of two dollars meaning both boys have made a profit of three what should they do with their earnings they can reinvest
their profits to buy more jugs of lemonade expanding their business or they could spend the money on candy James realizes that if he buys candy for a dollar he's not sacrificing one jug of lemonade but thousands of future jugs he decides to reinvest the money into his lemonade stand Peter instead decides to only buy one new jug of lemonade and spend the rest on candy the Protestant work ethic sees this as a failure as it distracts Peter from the virtue of hard work overtime James builds a lemonade empire he follows the Protestant ethic and so
believes that any luxury the business acquires say a private jet is something it is earned Max Weber is considered one of the founders of the field of sociology a more detailed examination of these ideas can be found in the macat analysis
