Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Essay Example for Free

Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Essay Maximilian Weber was a social scientist and political economist who is believed to be one of the fathers of the contemporary branch of public governance and sociology. Now better known as Max Weber, he was born on April 21, 1864 in Germany, the eldest among the brood of seven. His sociopolitical roots can be attributed to his father, Max Weber Sr. , who was a well-known elected official and social servant, while his modesty to her mother Helene Fallenstein. This sociopolitical inclination indeed ran in the family as Alfred Weber, his younger brother, was similarly a economist and sociologist (Turner, 1993). With Weber’s foremost and yet most influential oeuvre The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, a whole lot of his other shaping discourses contained in his journal began to circulate in 1904 (Ringer, 1997). In 1912, Weber made an attempt to institute a left-wing party in politics in an effort to coalesce liberals and social democrats. Though, this endeavor was abortive for the reason that a number of liberals were apprehensive of the radical ideologies of the social democrats (Baehr, 2002). Plagued by pneumonia in Munich, Maximilian Weber departed this life on the twentieth of June in 1920 (Turner, 1993). Indeed, no sociologist other than his contemporaries, like Karl Marx, has had a greater impact on sociology than the German sociologist Max Weber (Novak, 2005). Significantly a good deal of Weber’s work represented a debate with the ghost of Marx. Although finding much of value in Marx’s writings, Weber disagreed with Marx on a number of important matters. Over the course of his career, Weber left a legacy of rich insights for a variety of disciplines including economics, political science and history. Among sociologists, he is known not only for his theoretical contributions but for a number of specific ideas that in their own right have generated considerable interest and research. His sociological work covered a wide range of topics, including politics, bureaucracies, social stratification, law, religion, capitalism, music, the city, and cross-cultural comparison (Ringer, 1997). Weber believed that sociologists can derive an understanding of their subject matter in a manner that is unavailable to chemists and physicists. In investigating human behavior, sociologists are not limited to such objective criteria as weight and temperature; they can examine the meanings individuals bring to their interactions with one another. Consequently, Weber contended that a critical aspect of the sociological enterprise is the study of the intentions, beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie people’s behavior (Ringer, 1997). Weber employed the German word Verstehen, meaning understanding or insight, in describing this approach for learning about subjective meanings people attach to their actions. In using this method, Weber mentally attempts to place themselves in the shoes of other people and identify what they think and how they feel. Whereas Durkheim argued that sociologists should direct their investigations primarily to social facts that lie beyond the individual, Weber thought it also essential that sociologists examine the definitions people use in shaping their behavior (Ringer, 1997). Another notable contribution made by Weber is his concept of the ideal type. An ideal type is a concept constructed by a sociologist to portray the principal characteristics of a phenomenon. The term has nothing to do with evaluations of any sort. Rather, it is a tool that allows sociologists to generalize and simplify data by ignoring minor differences in order to accentuate major similarities. Weber contended that if sociologists are to establish cause-and-effect relationships, they must have concepts that are defined in a precise and unambiguous manner. The ideal type affords such a standard, especially in the study of concrete historical events and situations. It serves as a measuring rod against which sociologists can evaluate actual cases (Ringer, 1997). In his writings, Weber stressed the importance of a value-free sociology. He insisted sociologists must not only allow their personal biases to affect the conduct of their scientific research. Weber recognized that sociologists like everyone else, have individual biases and moral convictions regarding behavior. But he insisted that sociologists must cultivate a disciplined approach to the phenomena they study so that they may see facts as they are, and not as they might wish them to be. By the same token, as discussed in his work Objectivity In Social Science, Weber recognized that objectivity is not neutrality (Ringer, 1997). Neutrality implies that a person does not take sides on an issue; objectivity has to do with the pursuit of scientifically verifiable knowledge. Weber saw a role for values in certain specific aspects of the research process, namely, in selecting a topic for study and in determining the uses to which the knowledge is put. Clearly, data do not speak for themselves; they must be interpreted by scientists (Ringer, 1997). For his part, Weber was led to study bureaucracy because it was an important part of the Germany in which he lived. Moreover, was not afraid to express a value judgment or to tackle important issues of the day (Baehr, 2002). Weber was particularly impressed by the ability of bureaucracies to rationalize and control the process by which people collectively pursue their goals (Baehr, 2002). Although he was concerned about some of the negative consequences of bureaucracy, Weber contended that the needs of mass administration made bureaucracy an essential feature or modern organizational life. In his work The Theory of Social and Economic Cooperation, Weber argued that bureaucracy is an inherent feature of modern capitalism (Ringer, 1997). Yet he was equally insistent that a socialist society could not dispense with the arrangement. Indeed, Weber thought that socialism would see an increase, not a decrease, in bureaucratic structures. While recognizing the limitations of capitalism, he nonetheless felt it presented the best chances for the preservation of individual freedom and creative leadership in a world dominated by formal organizations as in his time (Ringer, 1997). In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber turned his sociological eye to one historic breakthrough, the development of capitalism. He sought a link between the rise of the Protestant view of life and the emergence of capitalist social arrangements in Western society. He maintained that the development of capitalism depended upon the creation of a pool of individuals who had the attitudes and values necessary to function as entrepreneurs. The critical problem, Weber said, is to uncover the origin of the motivating spirit of capitalism in precapitalist society. He believed that Protestantism, particularly Calvinism, was crucial to, but not the only factor in, the rise of this spirit (Novak, 2005). As the milieu influenced Weber, Calvinism is actually based on the teachings of the French theologian and reformer John Calvin, and found expression in a variety of religious movements, including Puritanism, Pietism, and Anabaptism. Weber noted that Protestantism and modern capitalism appeared on the historical scene at roughly the same time. There were other links as well. First, capitalism initially attained its highest development in Protestant countries, particularly the United States and England whereas Catholic nations like Spain and Italy lagged behind. Second, in nations with both Protestant and Catholic regions? such as Germany in his time, it seemed to be the Protestant regions that pioneered in capitalist development. And third, Weber marshaled evidence that suggested it was by and large the Protestants, not the Catholics, who became the early capitalist entrepreneurs (Novak, 2005). It is worth noting that The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was one of Weber’s earlier works. In lectures given shortly before his death, Weber incorporated many new elements in his analysis of the origins of large-scale capitalism (Ringer, 1997). Even so, his early work, although not necessarily accurate in all its particulars, remains a sociological landmark. It demonstrates the impact religion can have on human affairs in producing outcomes that are not necessarily intended or foreseen by its adherents. References Baehr, Peter. (2002). â€Å"In the Grip of Freedom: Law and Modernity in Max Weber. † Canadian Journal of Sociology. Novak, Michael. (2005). â€Å"Max Weber Goes Global. † First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life. Ringer, Fritz. (1997). Max Weber’s Methodology: The Unification of the Cultural and Social Sciences. Harvard University Press. Turner, Bryan S. (1993). Max Weber: From History to Modernity. Routledge.