Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
by Max Weber · first published 1958
21% recommend79% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that Protestant religious attitudes helped shape the work ethic and rational economic behavior behind modern capitalism; readers find it surprisingly readable and a useful framework for efficiency and busyness.
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…axioms is an uphill battle... [1]: It's fascinating how long it took in the early modern period to convince society that efficiency is a desirable goal at all; see Max Weber's classic 1905 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
on “The Blue State Model: How the Democrats Created a "Liberalism of the Rich"” ↗…myself), worshipping it like Ayn Rand belongs to the dullest ideologies ever invented. Capitalism does not care that you are worshipping it damnit! Then I have read Max Weber and understood it all: "The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit Of Capitalism" Oh yes, that makes a lot of sense. It's not just capitalism, there is deeper meaning behind it and it comes from religion. By contrast, I was raised as a Catholic - I'm not an Catholic today, but that's…
on “Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others [video] (1972)” ↗That is a rough approximation of Max Weber's theory from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which is an amazing and surprisingly readable little book.
on “Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours” ↗…ponder whether this drive to busyness (note the similarity with business) stems from the “Protestant work ethic”, but I’m out of my depth and I don’t have a definite answer ;-) (refer Weber’s classic “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”)
on “The Value of Grey Thinking (2016)” ↗…in many elements, surpassed it, and demonstrate that it was not particularly unique except in marketing) America By Design --- Noble is a very circumspect, controversial historian of technology. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism --- classic on the controversial idea that protestantism was responsible for capitalism and the resulting technology Does Technology Drive History -- collection of essays by the founders of the field…
on “Ask PG/HN: Recommended reading on the history of technology” ↗…politicians have no business trying to influence keeping jobs in their districts. That's an astonishing position. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-02/summers-s... Max Weber, book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_S... This three-generation-old work digs in to the moral roots of lonely striving.
on “All Hollowed Out the lonely poverty of America’s white working class” ↗…Christian takes that suffering is a challenge from god (often backed by Job's trials) and thus a thing that may not need changing. I believe Max Weber also covered this concept sociologically in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
on “Google’s caste-bias problem” ↗…with striving, relentlessly positive, devoid of humor, and — once you notice it — impossible to escape. That's the world we build for ourselves. Let me quote a passage from Max Weber, in his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism": "The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into everyday life, and began to dominate worldly morality, it did…
on “Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?” ↗It's the same thing over and over. When people like two things, they tend to want to see connections between them. Max Weber liked protestantism and capitalism, so he wrote "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". iuguy likes Northen Europe and hard work, so he posted that collection of stereotypes. Redditors like atheism and science, and to hear them tell it, the two things are basically one and the same. It's…
on “U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’” ↗The connection is of course famously the theme of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism[1], so it might be more accurate to say the origin of the attitude was religious, but it has now become more widespread. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_S...
on “Judge rules Seattle homeless man’s truck is a home” ↗…order to maximize their revenue. Others think that once their basic needs are covered, doing more work is pointless. This difference has existed for a long time. It's discussed at length in Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism for example, which has funny things to say about the philosophy developed in Ben Franklin's autobiography.
on “How I got wealthy without working too hard” ↗The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism By Max Weber OK fine, it's a slightly different thesis but it's the correct one ;)
on “Banks as Collateral Damage in a Class War” ↗…was supercharged by the Protestant notion of idle-hands are sinful-hands? German sociologist Max Weber was wondering the same question about a century ago and wrote a whole book about it called "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". The part where he talks about the Protestant notion of calling comes very close to what you described. I read it a decade ago so the details are a bit fuzzy but I think the gist of it was it's super…
on “Observations on Credit and Lending Practices in Ur III Mesopotamia (2004) [pdf]” ↗> German sociologist Max Weber was wondering the same question about a century ago and wrote a whole book about it called "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". Some criticisms on the idea, and especially this observation that the 'ethic' may have originated earlier than Protestantism: > Andersen et al found that the location of monasteries of the Catholic…
on “Observations on Credit and Lending Practices in Ur III Mesopotamia (2004) [pdf]” ↗I can’t find the exact citation at the moment, but I believe that American students were described as viewing the education process as transactional in a wider sense by Max Weber in 1905 (Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism I think?)
on “The average college student today” ↗