Name: Tu Anh Nguyen

Student ID: 00-570009C

Response paper to Max Webers The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber, one of the founding fathers of sociology, had undoubtedly left behind a legacy

that to this day is still relevant, influential and debatable. Arguably one of his most famous

works, The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism presented Webers take on making

sense of a force that had changed how the world operate since its emergence: the force of

capitalism and more importantly the ethos behind it. As with many other great works, this essay

invites a broad range of interpretation, one of which could concern the consequences that may

arise when projecting theoretical concepts to real world application, as shall be attempted in this

paper.

One of the most prominent ideas behind The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism

is the intimate relationship between two ideologies that appear unrelated at best and conflicting

at worst: religious asceticism and capitalist economy. Through a wide collection of examples,

Weber had established a rather convincing association of otherworldly beliefs with the

foundation of a worldly course of conduct. At the same time a causal link between the

Protestant theology and the spirit of capitalism may also imply the exclusion of non-Christian

communities, which largely constitutes of Orientals, from achieving this spirit through this

particular religious path. This does not mean that capitalistic attitude is unattainable at all in

these groups; as Weber had also emphasized, the religious point of view is not the only possible

one from which the historical phenomenon of capitalism can be analysed. Here we can catch a

glimpse of the contrast between Marxs and Webers approach to capitalism. While Marx saw

the emergence of capitalism as being one of the milestones of the inevitable history, Weber

rejected such universalism and argued for the role of specific and particular values in the

development of any civilization. This emphasis on cultural peculiarity, while solving the problem
of overgeneralization, may also lead to another one regarding the extent that Webers theory

can be applied to different societies. In the context of this essay, his analysis focused on the

aspect of capitalism that emerged from and carried the characteristic of Western cultures,

whose implication could be interpreted in more than one way: that in order to achieve the same

level of development, non-Western societies could either follow a completely different path,

which in fact might lead to a superficially similar but essentially different outcome, or they could

adopt the same or fundamentally equivalent patterns for a guarantee of success and uniformity.

Under the hypothesis that the Western capitalism could be exported to other parts of the world,

one question could be whether it would be possible and moreover advisable to introduce the

idea of Protestant asceticism as the stepping stone for the adoption of the rational mindset that

[is prerequisite to the development of a capitalistic society. Although Weber also mentioned the

evolution of capitalism to the stage of independence from any direct influence of religious

beliefs, it was only after the rational way of life and thinking had been sufficiently promoted and

accepted as the norm. Whether that rationality could be developed with a complete absence of

religious foundation is open to interpretation. On the assumption that certain level of faith

modifying should be required, the spread of capitalistic mindset may become the cover for an

underlying crusade of Christianity, in this particular case of Protestantism.

In the case of post-war Japan, the implications were of considerable consequences, since

Webers concept of rationalization and capitalism was presented as a counter to the dominance

of the Marxist school of thought among contemporary Japanese scholarship. One possible

explanation for the popularity of Marxism and as a result a challenge to rational capitalism is

that the formers determinism offered a more definite and concrete direction for a Japan that

was trying to make sense of its place in the world. Faced with that disadvantage, a strongly

Western-based concept of development would have to find a compromise with a distinctively

different ethos, which could be achieved by modifying the concept of capitalism to fit the

Occidental original tradition. However this may not be an easy task, since the very essence of
capitalism rested on an already foreign idea to Japanese people in particular: the idea of self-

consciousness and self-confidence in ones destiny. According to Webers analysis, it was the

Protestant concept of the calling that built the ground of the methodically rationalized ethical

conduct, which justified the accumulation of wealth as long as that wealth was not spent on

spontaneous enjoyment. Here it is important for the businessman to possess the self-

consciousness of standing in Gods grace and self-confidence of being blessed by Him. The

notion that ones life was to be dedicated to the servitude of a greater force would most likely

face the suspicion of a people to whom religious influence had been mild and peripheral and

whose every conduct was not to ascertain ones fate as a blessed but to fulfill ones duty set up

by others. Moreover, even if the concept of rationality had been introduced without bearing any

trace of its religious background, the requirement of self-discipline and self-confidence in ones

path even in the absence of external guidance might still prove difficult to be satisfied, given

Japanese peoples tendency to depend on ties and relationships to determine the appropriate

course of actions. A hierarchy of social connection had most likely contributed to the two most

prominent types of business activities in pre-war Japan: the zaibatsu and the small family-based

enterprises. For the Western-style capitalist practices to be able to replace these traditional

systems, it may require more than just an introduction of the concept, but also a change of the

internal values embraced by the society. Even if capitalism had gained enough momentum to be

an independent movement, its very nature could still be so fundamentally different from what

other societies have encountered that propagation could only be made possible by reverting to

its origin. This leads back to the question of whether the ethics of Protestant asceticism could be

and should be introduced as one of the conditions for the development of the spirit of capitalism

in the sense intended by Weber. When adopted to a broader context, this issue concerning

religion and capitalism could turn into the question of how far a particular culture should be

allowed to impose its ideology on others, whether it is acceptable to carry out a thorough ethical

reform in order to achieve the final goal.

 Ever since its publication, The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism has remained

one of the Webers most influential work as a critical contribution to the study of capitalism,

however if it were to be taken more than just as a study but rather as a means of propagating a

particular set of values, then several questions may arise concerning the extent of its limitation,

especially upon the collision with an essentially foreign society. The solution could lie in a broad

interpretation of Webers work and a thorough understanding of the similarities and differences

among different cultures to determine the most appropriate method of exchanging values and

beliefs.