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PDF Scan to USB Stick Ringa Raudia References Max Weber, the Protestant Ethics, and the Fischoff, Ephraim. 1991 [1944]. "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Sociology of Capitalist Development Capitalism: The History of a Controversy." Social Research 2: 53-77. Reprinted in Max Weber: Critical Assessments, Vol. 2, ed. Peter Alexander Ebner Hamilton. London: Routledge. Lessnoff, Michael. 1994. The Spirit of Capitalism and the Protestant Ethic. An Enquiry into the Weber Thesis. Aldershot: Edward Elgar. 1. Introduction Poggi, Gianfranco. 1983. Calvinism and the Capitalist Spirit. Max We- ber's Protestant Ethic. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Recent debates on the dynamics of capitalist development have Press. once again focused on the ideological underpinnings of the devel- opment process, thus highlighting the role of religion and specific Prisching, Manfred. 1996. "The Enterpreneur and His Capitalist Spirit - world-views in shaping the institutional foundations of modern Sombart's Pscyho-Historical model." In Werner Sambart (1863- capitalism. Accordingly, to put it in the terms of Max Weberand 1941): Social Scientist. Vol 2. His Theoretical Approach Reconsid- ,t:<' ered, ed. Jürgen Backhaus. Metropolis-Verlag: Marburg. fellow contemporary sociologists and economists, it may be argued that quest for the spirit of capitalism still provides a most relevant Schneider, Dieter. 1996. "Sombart or Spirit and Accountability of Capi- topic for major research endeavors. In particular recent advances in talism as "Enthusiastic Lyricism". In Werner Sambart (1863-1941): the domain of economic and social history have followed Weber in Social Scientist. Vol 2. His Theoretical Approach Reconsidered, ed. outlining the institutional specificity of the Western European Jürgen Backhaus. Metropolis-Verlag: Marburg. economy as a birthplace of modern capitalism (North and Thomas Sombart, Wemer. 1998 [1915]. The Quintessence of Capitalism: A Study 1973, Jones 1981, Rosenberg and Birdzell 1986, Mokyr 1990, of the History and Psychology of the Modern Business Man. London: Landes 1998, Lai 1998, North 2005). Proposed factors in the his- Routledge. torically unique 'rise of the West' point at aspects such as the po- Vom Brocke, Bemhard. 1996. "Wemer Sombart, His Life, Works and In- litical competition among states, political freedom, property rights, fluence." In Werner Sambart (1863-1941): Social Scientist. Vol 2. the emergence of markets, technological innovation, and the rise of His Theoretical Approach Reconsidered, ed. Jürgen Backhaus. Me- rational thought. While the debate goes on, it remains quite difficult tropolis-Verlag: Marburg. to understand that most of these recent contributions implicitly fol- Weber, Max. 1930. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. low the lead of Weberian analysis without explicitly referring to London: Unwin. Weber's original thesis on the role of the Protestant ethic in capital- Zelizer, Viviana. 1978. "Human values and the Market: The Case of Life ist development. This is even more curious given the fact that the Insurance and Death in 19th Century America." American Journal of issue of Protestantism is a decisive feature in Weber's sociology- Sociology 94 (3): 591-610. and thus a key component of the intellectuallegacy of modern so- cial sciences at large. 230 231 Alexander Ebner Max Weber, the Protestant Ethics, and the Sociology of Capitalist Development Accordingly, the following sections elaborate on a reappraisal of causal analysis in Weber's comparative-historical approach (Kai- Weber's related work. berg 1994). The presentation proceeds as follows. The first section outlines In this line of reasoning, the Weberian renaissance in sociological Max Weber's research program, highlighting the sociology of capi- theory has been designated to articulate the critique of structuralist talist development as a key concern. The second section discusses and functionalist interpretations of Weberian thought, which had Weber's thesis of the Protestant ethics as a major factor in the become prevalent in particular with Parson's approach to social genesis of Occidental capitalism. The third section provides an as- theory as a theory of social systems. This basic orientation in the sessment of the intellectual context and most relevant criticism of criticism of structuralist and functionalist positions has been stimu- this thesis, covering a set of issues that ranges from Weber's con- lated most pressingly by argumentssuch as Tenbruck's on the role temporaries to the most recent controversies. The paper concludes of religious aspects in Weber's theorising. Indeed, Tenbruck argues that the Weber thesis on the Protestant ethics has proven its rele- that that the centre of Weber's sociology is created by the analysis vance for further discussions on the evolution of modern capitalism of historico-religious disenchantment and rationalisation as a uni- - also with regard to current institutional transformations in the versal sequence that contributed decisively to the rise of the West- context of globalisation. ern World (Tenbruck 1980). Accordingly, it is the matter of chang- ing religious belief-systems and world-views that constitutes a key 2. Max Weber's Sociology of Capitalist Development: concern of Weber's account of the cultural evolution of modern so- An Outline cieties, involving its differentiated institutional architecture. In this setting, the role of the Protestant ethics in the institutional evolution Weber's sociological approach is said to resemble a most compre- of modern capitalism is settobe decisive. hensive attempt in promoting a unified theoretical and empirical re- However, sociological modifications of that position have been search program of the social sciences. Related attempts in recon- controversially pinpointing the aspect of rationalisation as a process structing the unity of Weber's social thought address the argument of continuous disenchantment that shapes both individual and col- that the relation between culture and social life, basically the inter- lective levels of social action. In particular, Schluchter identifies dependence of belief-systems and social reality, constitutes the ba- Western rationalisation as Weber's main concern that would result sis of Weberian ideas in terms of a comprehensive sociology of in a diversity of segmented attempts at formulating a universal his- culture. Thus, based on the Weberian social-ontological dualism, tory. Basedon that assessment, Schluchter's analytical framework which informs his analysis of the process of rationalization, it has focuses on the notion of structural principles and their ethical- been suggested that Weber factually formulated a valuable compar- institutional dimensions, which allows for delimiting Weber's de- ison of historical cultures (Schroeder 1992). Concerning Weber's velopmental history from accompanying strands of evolutionism sociological research concepts, then, major components like the and systems theory by underlining the corresponding theory of ac- agency-structure problern as weil as the conceptual implications of tion (Schluchter 1981). Weber actually believed that capitalism the multi-causality of historical development processes have been generated major socio-cultural problems, which would come to taken to the fore. The concept of ideal types excels as a tool of hinder capitalist long-run growth. He anticipated the decline of 232 233 Alexander Ebner Max Weber, the Protestant Ethics, and the Sociology of Capitalist Development capitalism due to the advent of an all-encompassing social bureauc- tion of the Historical School of political economy. Methodologi- ratisation that would finally result from the rationalisation of socio- caily, this aspect is exemplified by the matter of concept formation economic affairs and beliefs in modern capitalism. The notion of in terms of Weber's use of the notion of ideal types and Verstehen the 'iron cage' would describe this fate of modern society- thus as means of analysing human action, which are said to reflect the putting Weber in line with cultural pessimists like Schumpeter, specific Neo-Kantian dimension of Weber's research methodology, who would view the economic success of capitalism as a source of especiaily regarding the impact of Rickert's methodological ideas. its socio-cultural decomposition (Swedberg 1998). In accounting Related to these considerations, it has been concluded that Weber for deterministic elements and underlying tendencies of a cultural intended to establish a generalizing social science as a methodo- pessimism in these arguments, an allegedly Nietzschean sociology logical complement to both historiography and the natural sciences of fate in Weberian thought has been traced as a motivein the cor- (Burger 1987). responding assessment of the developmental dynamism of Occi- Weber's intellectual proximity to the Historical School is usually dental capitalism, pointing to the notion of the unintended conse- illustrated with reference to this attempted integration of explana- quences of social action as a characteristic of modern societies tory and interpretative approaches, which points to Weber's con- (Turner 1996). In this Weberian line of reasoning, rationalisation cern with the methodological positions of contemporary scholars and secularisation are intertwined, with Protestantism and its ra- like Roseher and Knies as weil as Rickert and Dilthey. Therefore, tionalising world-view as a decisive moment in the economic and derived from Max Weber's
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