Weber - text

Question 1

introduction

Answer 1

• W questions why the West seems to have a universal significance. The East lacks the rationality of the West e.g. science – systematic and rational mindset lacking in the East
• Same in the sphere of economics
  o Trade has existed everywhere, but abroad, it lacked cohesion and was not ‘continuous like our own’. (6) We have developed capitalism ‘both to a quantitative extent, and … in types, forms, and direction which have never existed elsewhere’. (7) Capitalism abroad lacks direction and rational deliberation.
  o Capitalistic associations in the East are ‘only small beginnings’ (8)
  ♣ However… perhaps no longer the case today?
• Capitalism and other spheres are interdependent
  o Capitalism needs law in terms of ‘formal rules’ (10)
  o But capitalism has also helped law ‘prepare the way for the predominance in law and administration of a class of jurists specially trained in rational law’ (10)

Question 2

what is his case study focused on

Answer 2

• Weber begins with a case study of Protestants and Catholics in Baden, in Southern Germany, and the empirical observation that Protestants take part in modern business with greater effect than do Catholics.
• Reformation is usually viewed as an emancipation from tradition
  o However, Protestant control was tight. Modernity does not embody freedom
  o Despite tight control, commercial classes showed heroism in defending Protestant faith

Question 3

superior rationality of protestants

Answer 3

• Protestant valued higher education/technical training more than RCC, who favoured humanistic tradition over higher education.
• RCC placed importance on independent craftsmen
  o Protestants worked in factories, skilled labour and admin. They joined modern methods of production.
  o RCC were less ambitious, whilst Protestants placed greater emphasis on enterprise and drive.
• ‘Protestants… have shown a special tendency to develop economic rationalism which cannot be observed to the same extent among Catholics’ (18)
  o Difference must be sought in the ‘intrinsic character of their religious beliefs’
  o Could argue that this is due to the ‘other-worldliness’ of Catholicism, it ‘brought up its adherents to a greater indifference toward the good things of this world’
  o Catholics argue that ‘materialism results from secularisation’
  o ‘The Protestant prefers to eat well, the Catholic to sleep undisturbed’ – Offenbacher (18)

Question 4

catholic tendencies

Answer 4

• They show ‘a stronger propensity to remain in their crafts… they more often become master craftsmen, whereas the Protestants are attracted to a larger extent into the factories in order to fill the upper ranks of skilled labour and administrative positions’ (17)

Question 5

reformation in general

Answer 5

• ‘It is necessary to note, what has often been forgotten, that the Reformation meant not the elimination of the Church’s control over everyday life, but rather the substitution of a new form of control for the previous one’ (16)
• Calvinism ‘would be for us the most absolutely unbearable form of ecclesiastical control’ (16)

Question 6

conflict between asceticism and religion

Answer 6

• Conflict between ‘asceticism’ and ‘participation in capitalistic acquisition’ might ‘actually turn out to be an intimate relationship’ (19)
• The fact that many capitalistic entrepreneurs have come from clergyman’s families might be explained as a ‘reaction against their ascetic upbringing’
  o However, W claims that this ‘fails’ where capitalism is combined with extreme piety – as shown in Calvinism
• ‘The spirit of hard work… the awakening of which one is inclined to ascribe to Protestantism, must not be understood … as connected with the Enlightenment’. (20)

Question 7

spirit of capitalism

Answer 7

• All the elements that make up Capitalism already existed in the pre-modern world. But they had to come together in a new social form, a new pattern and energy, shaped by what Weber calls the ‘spirit of capitalism’.
• Weber does not claim that the Protestant reformation created Capitalism, but rather than the two are ‘associated’.
• He lays side by side a secular text which brings out the spirit of capitalism, and a theological concept which gives the key to the Protestant ethic, to show their affinities.

Question 8

benjamin franklin - things to notice

Answer 8

• The secular text comes from an American, Benjamin Franklin, focussing around the notion of putting money to work in order to gain more money. Notice (1) how different the virtues in this world are from those of the older order, where generosity and gifts might be seen as central virtues, and (2) the contrast between a bourgeois world of application and hard work, reputation and restraint on the one hand, and an aristocratic (or plebeian) world of prodigality and ostentation on the other. (LINK TO WEBER IDEA OF PROT VS. RCC. FRANKLIN OFFERS A SECULAR PARALLEL)
• Marx shares view that money is a human construct. However, it is as if money men makes men and puts people to work. Inversion of Franklin

Question 9

benjamin franklin on virtues

Answer 9

• Franklin argues that good people are punctual. Will continue being a good person once you have made money.
• Money = prolific. Investment = more potential gains
• Necessary qualities are virtues. Money is a sign of one’s work.
  o Contrasts this with the view that to be good, you should give away money
  o Money as form of display (aristocrats) is contrary to the Protestant view
  o Morality is important – need to appear honest
• Contrast between bourgeois world of restrain and aristocratic world of austentacious display. Anthropological contrast
  o Restraining desire for pleasure. Use energy to view economics in a rational, scientific manner
  o Bourgeois place more importance on investment. Defence of group interest is corrupt. New collective view of world = spirit of capitalism

Question 10

weber view of franklin

Answer 10

• ‘Honesty is useful, because it assures credit’: intention is not necessarily pure (24)
• ‘Unnecessary surplus of this virtue would evidently appear to Franklin’s eyes as unproductive waste’ (24)
• Franklin’s views are nuanced. He references divine revelation as aiding him in description of importance of virtue
• Franklin’s thought is so teleological that it becomes eudaimonic
• Making money is a form of achieving eudaimonia
• Earning money becomes a virtue, ‘as long as it is done legally’
• ‘It is an obligation which the individual is supposed to feel… towards the content of his professional activity’. This is necessary for modern day capitalism to work (25)

Question 11

weber on the capitalist economy as survival of the fittest

Answer 11

• ‘Capitalism of today… educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of economic survival of the fittest’
• USA example
  o ‘the spirit of capitalism was present before the capitalistic order’ (26)
  o New England is the reverse of the idea that the capitalist spirit is borne of economic conditions. Southern USA has a significant business motive when capitalism was not significantly developed
• A lack of ‘conscienziosita’ is an obstacle to capitalistic development (27)
• However… a ruthless attitude to business has been common in history
  o It characterised pre-capitalistic times (‘the rational utilisation of capital in a permanent enterprise and the rational capitalistic organisation of labour had not yet become dominant forces’ (28)

Question 12

traditionalism

Answer 12

• Often associated with ‘piece-rates’
  o Attempt has been made to increase piece-rate, and thus allow workers to earn a significant amount. However, this did not end up being successful as instead of increasing output, workers decreased their amount of work
  o Workers would ask themselves how much they had to work to make a certain amount, rather than how much they would earn if they worked a certain amount
  o ‘A man does not by nature wish to earn more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose’ (29)

Question 13

capitalism as opposed to traditionalism

Answer 13

• Surplus population (allows for cheap labour) is a ‘necessity for the development of capitalism’ (29)
• ‘The efficiency of labour decreases with a wage which is physiologically insufficient’. (29)
• Low wages do not allow for experienced workers who will be willing to work properly. If wages are reasonable, workers do not slack and are not wasting time calculating how long they must work for (traditionalism). The capitalist spirit is marked by a sense of duty and purpose in one’s work
• Modern capitalism is characterised by an ‘attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically’ (as shown by Franklin) (31)

Question 14

how do businesses become capitalistic

Answer 14

• Businesses can be in ‘every respect capitalistic’, but in fact are ‘traditionalistic business’ e.g. in the ‘traditional manner of life’ (33)
  o In ‘increasing the rigour of his supervision’, peasants are turned into labourers.
  o By ‘changing his marketing methods’, he would ‘personally solicit customers’
  o Would allow for a ‘process of rationalisation’ (33)
  o ‘The old leisurely and comfortable attitude toward life gave way to a hard frugality in which some participated and came to the top’ (33)

Question 15

ideal capitalistic entrepreneur

Answer 15

• He has an ‘ascetic tendency’ (35)
• ‘He gets nothing out of his wealth for himself, except the irrational sense of having done his job well’
• ‘This spirit of capitalism might be understandable as… a result of adaptation’ (35)
• ‘Whoever does not adapt his manner of life to the conditions to capitalistic success must go under’ (36)

Question 16

Luther’s translation of bible

Answer 16

• Wealth as core of social system seen in Luther’s translation of the Bible
  o The core of Protestant identity lies in this Lutheran notion of the ‘Beruf’ (translation of apocrypha), ‘a religious conception, that of a task set by God’ (79). Here we have the religious innovation that places work at the heart of human salvation.
  o Divided human activity into monastic asceticism and worldly activity
  ♣ Destroys concept of mutual obligation. Suggests good through works e.g. prayer
  o Luther argued that monastic attitudes ended up justifying corrupt behaviour on Utilitarian grounds e.g. indulgences
  o Luther offers the calling as a revaluation of ordinary work
  o Fulfilment of duty is ‘Beruf’. By working, you fulfil your calling, the highest form of which is one’s duty.
  o Attitudes of different classes to religion can be related to economic situation.
• No mention in preceding secular literature, it is a product of the Reformation

Question 17

luther vs. franklin

Answer 17

• Luther prefers active, temporal callings, rather than the monastic life, which is not only ‘devoid of value’ but also ‘selfish’ (40)
• Luther would not have been in support of the spirit of capitalism as described by Franklin
  o ‘Luther’s numerous statements against usury or interest in any form reveal a conception of the nature of capitalistic acquisition which is… definitely backward’. (41)

Question 18

shift in lutheran thought

Answer 18

• Before, he emphasised ‘Pauline eschatological indifference as expressed in 1 Cor 7’ (42)
  o Salvation is possible in any profession
  o Pursuit of material gain = sinful
• However… shift in thought as he began to value work more highly.
  o ‘he saw more and more a special command of God to fulfil these particular duties which the Divine Will had imposed upon him’ (42)
  o Position in society and the ‘historical order of things in which the individual has been placed by God becomes for Luther more and more a direct manifestation of divine will’
  o More emphasis on providence
  o Beruf became a ‘task set by God’ (43)

Question 19

effect of lutheran ‘beruf’

Answer 19

• Weber claimed that change in RE ideas precipitates new economic ideas
  o Capitalism = function of RE imagination
  o Radical inversion
• Pursuit of wealth seems independent to RE
  o For Weber, religion has transformed into an ethic of selfless devotion to work through new forms of management etc.
  o The Protestant ethic is not subsumed by the spirit of capitalism but, on the contrary, generative of it.

Question 20

4 main forms of ascetic Protestantism

Answer 20

• Calvinism
• Pietism – split off from Calvinism in England
• Methodism
• Sects growing out of the Baptist movement
• 17th cent: dogmatic differences between the sects prevented unity of Church

Question 21

The Calvinist Form of the Calling – How was it formed?

Answer 21

• View that grace is relative to personal worth
• Grace becomes objective and no longer dependent on works
• Grace is ultimate secret of God, cannot know who will receive it
• Whilst Luther held that grace could be won back through trust in God, Calvin intensified the opposite emphasis that grace was objective and could not be earnt
  o Dichotomy of NT vs. OT God. For L, it is a NT God. For C, he maintained God’s transcendence and aligned more with OT God.

Question 22

The Calvinist Form of the Calling – what was its effect?

Answer 22

• ‘Calvinism was the faith over which the great political and cultural struggles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were fought in the most highly developed countries, the Netherlands, England and France’ (49)
• Calvinism turned the seed Luther had formed into the new kind of man with which we are concerned, and this is the topic of the second part of the essay.
• The key doctrine that Calvin introduced into the debate is that of ‘predestination’. The emphasis on God’s sovereignty leads to a psychological state which is unsustainable.
• A new psychological type of human and a new political order were created. Ascetic – or Reformed – Protestantism sought godly renewal and repeated revival both of self and society.
• We therefore have a new figure of man, which Weber traces in Calvinist sermons and expository works, with models from Scripture.
• For W, C produced a new type of human psychology

Question 23

The Calvinist Form of the Calling – psychological implications

Answer 23

• We are sinful humans and deserve to be damned. C’s God = OT
• Consequence of idea of unchangeable predestination: ‘a feeling of unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual’ (52)
• Nothing can save them, not even sacraments etc.
• Contradiction: need to be a member of the Church to be saved, yet do not know/cannot change if you are saved or not.

Question 24

westminster confession 1647

Answer 24

• Original Sin
• Predestination
• Jesus’ selfless sacrifice
• God’s varying level of mercy depending on the person
• Limited election
• God withholds grace from the damned and sometimes withdraws gifts in order to expose them and surrender them to sin

Question 25

puritan literature and calvinist predestination

Answer 25

• Puritans critical of all sensuous/emotional aspects of religion as they viewed them as illusory; they do not help one achieve salvation
• Predestination provoked a sense of distrust amongst people, stressed in English Puritan literature
  o ‘Only God should be your confidant’ (53)
  o Calvinism removed private confession due to ‘possible sacramental misinterpretation’ (53)
  ♣ Shows ethical attitude and power of C
• Relationship with God becomes a private affair
• However… Calvinism had both the power of fear in ‘driving the latter to every conceivable self-humiliation’ and the power of spurring ‘a restless and systematic struggle with life’ (54)

Question 26

calvinist emphasis on action

Answer 26

• If it were emotional, it would be idolatry of the flesh.
• ‘Labour in the service of impersonal social usefulness … promotes the glory of God and hence … (is) willed by him’ (55)
• It is in a trust of being part of the elect that individuals are motivated to work in service of God. Cannot guess whether you are/are not as this would be trying to understand the mind of God
  o Lack of self-confidence = insufficient faith
• L stresses ‘humble sinners’, C ‘self-confident saints’ (56)
• Luther emphasised mysticism more than Calvin who prioritised ‘ascetic action’ (58)
  o Mystical aspect of C is not incompatible with action; on the contrary, mysticism ‘may very well be compatible with a pronounced sense of reality in the field of empirical fact’ (57)

Question 27

catholic attitude to action

Answer 27

• Catholics showed a tokenist attitude to salvation. They performed works as they went. Acts were individual rather than part of a collective. The intention with an act determined its value.
  o Used absolution to ‘grant release from that tremendous tension to which the Calvinist was doomed by an inexorable fate’ (59)
  o Use of indulgences ‘inevitably counteracted the tendencies toward systematic worldly asceticism. For that reason, it was… felt at the time of the Reformation to be… one of the most fundamental evils of the Church’ (61)

Question 28

calvinism vs. Lutheranism

Answer 28

• Calvin pushed aside all emotion in religion
• Wanted Christianity to subsume itself into all aspects of life – ‘connection between faith and conduct’ (65)
• ‘The Lutheran faith… left the spontaneous vitality of impulsive action and naïve emotion more nearly unchanged. The motive to constant self-control and thus to a deliberate regulation of one’s own life, which the gloomy doctrine of Calvinism gave, was lacking’ (65)
  o Less ‘ascetic penetration’ in L than C
  o L ‘lacked a psychological sanction of systematic conduct to compel the methodical rationalisation of life’ (65)

Question 29

pietism

Answer 29

• more emotional than C, and thus it achieved less of a rationalisation of life
• Sought salvation in this world, next world is uncertain
• ‘religion took on a positively hysterical character’ (67)
• ‘The effect was the direct opposite of the strict and temperate discipline under which men were placed by the systematic life of holiness of the Puritan’
• methodical development of oneself is a sign of grace
• God will give signs of providence if individuals ‘wait patiently and deliberate methodically’ (69)

Question 30

methodism

Answer 30

• combines emotion and asceticism with indifference to Calvin’s dogmatic basis of asceticism
• Approach to achieving salvation is ‘methodical, systematic’ (72)
• Aim was to convert

Question 31

the baptist sects

Answer 31

• Methodism and Pietism = secondary movements. Baptist sects are secondary examples of Protestant asceticism
• Emphasis on the ‘community of personal believers’ (75)
• Revelation is individual and offered to everyone
• Like C, Baptists condemned earthly pleasures as idolatry of the flesh
• Word of God is a living force. God continues to reveal himself
• No sacraments

Question 32

richard baxter, Xian directory

Answer 32

• He placed emphasis on the ‘moral life through the Church’ (81)
• Stresses the ‘ebionitic elements of the NT’ (82)
• Wealth = dangerous. Should not pursue it (stressed in Puritan literature)
• More extreme condemnation of earthly goods than Calvin
• Possession can lead to relaxation, which is dangerous. Rest comes in the next world, not this world.
• ‘Every hour lost is lost to labour for the glory of God’ (82)
• must continuously labour (physically or mentally). This will allow for a defeat of worldly temptation
  o ‘Even the wealthy shall not eat without working, for even though they do not need to labour to support their own needs, there is God’s commandment which they, like the poor, must obey’ (83)
  ♣ commandment differs to Luther’s emphasis on calling as a necessary fate to which one must submit
  ♣ for Luther, hierarchy was a product of the divine will
  ♣ For Baxter, division of labour allows for greater improvement in production. This ‘serves the common good’, in a utilitarian sense. (84)
• For Baxter’s Puritan, following calling was a fulfilment of OT God’s emphasis on obedience. The Puritan ‘compared his own state of grace with that of the heroes of the Bible’ (86)

Question 33

conclusion emerging contradiction

Answer 33

• After stressing the importance of religious motivation, he states ‘Then the intensity of the search for the Kingdom of God commenced gradually to pass over into sober economic virtue; the religious roots died out slowly, giving way to utilitarian worldliness’ (93)
• ‘With the dying out of the religious root, the utilitarian interpretation crept in unnoticed’ (93)

Question 34

conc - iron cage

Answer 34

• ‘Today the spirit of religious asceticism… has escaped from the cage. But victorious capitalism, since it rests on mechanical foundations, needs its support no longer’ (96)
• No longer emphasis on the ‘idea of duty in one’s calling’ (96)

Question 35

reformation as sanctioning labour

Answer 35

Reformation added a significance to the ‘moral emphasis on and the religious sanction of, organised worldly labour’ (41)