WHAT, ACCORDING TO WEBER, WERE THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM, AND WHAT WAS THEIR

IR RELATIONSHIP? BRIEFLY CONTRAST WITH MARXS VIEWS ON RELIGION AND THE ECONOMY

Unlike Marx who viewed capitalism as a stage in the general development of the whole history (Huges, Sharrock & MarVn, 2003:94), Weber argues that the capitalist enterprise has existed throughout history; although it was only in the West that capitalism had developed to a degree where it was universally recognised and accepted. However, what was it that made Western capitalism more unique and exclusive than others? And how did Western capitalism develop in such a way? Weber believed that the development of modern capitalism today was greatly inuenced by religious values. According to the occupaVonal staVsVcs of Germany at the Vme of his research, he discovered that business leaders and owners of capital, as well as the higher grades of skilled labor, and even more the higher technically and commercially trained personnel of modern enterprises, are overwhelmingly Protestant (Weber, 1930: 3) thus indicaVng that there was a correlaVon between economic success and religion. In his publicaVon The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1930) Weber adempts to explain his theory through discussions of raVonalisaVon as well as analysing the extent to which religious reformaVons could have inuenced the advancement of our material culture and economic progression.

THE PROTESTANT ETHIC One of the most vital features to understanding the Protestant ethic is the interpretaVon of the concept of the calling which was the idea that people have been called by God to the posiVon that they occupy in this world (Huges, Sharrock & MarVn, 2003: 99). Weber proceeds to examine the dierent percepVons of the calling in various branches of ProtestanVsm, parVcularly focusing on the Calvinist and Lutheranist belief. The Protestant religion dictates the idea that the fates of all individuals were predesVned. A person was either already sentenced to hell or bestowed with salvaVon from God; however there was no reassuring proof of which category the individual would fall in. The fear of not knowing ones fate caused intense religious anxiety to Protestants. However, by devoVng ones life to work, this itself would be a form of salvaVon.