Summary
Weber now turns to the conclusion of his study, and attempts to understand the
relationship between ascetic Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism. To
understand how religious ideas translate into maxims for everyday conduct, one
must
look closely at the writings of ministers. This was the primary force in the
formation of
national character. For the purposes of this chapter, we can treat ascetic
Protestantism as
a single whole. The writings of Richard Baxter are a good model of its ethics.
In his
work, it is striking to see his suspicion of wealth as a dangerous temptation.
His real
moral objection though, is to relaxation, idleness, and distraction from the
pursuit of a
righteous life. Possessions are only objectionable because of this risk of
relaxation; only
activity promotes God's glory. Thus, wasting time is the worst of sins, because
it means
that time is lost in promoting God's will in a calling. Baxter preaches hard
and continual
mental or bodily work. This is because labor is an acceptable ascetic technique
in the
Western tradition, and because labor came to be seen as an end in itself,
ordained as such
by God. This does not change, even for those people who are wealthy, because
everyone
has a calling in which they should labor, and taking the opportunities for
profit that God
provides is part of that calling. To wish to be poor is similar to wishing to be
sick, and
both are morally unacceptable.
Weber then attempts to clarify the ways in which the Puritan idea of the calling
and
asceticism influenced the development of the capitalistic way of life. First,
asceticism
opposed the spontaneous enjoyment of life and its opportunities. Such enjoyment
leads
people away from work in a calling and religion. Weber argues, "That powerful
tendency toward uniformity of life, which today so immensely aids the
capitalistic
interest in the standardization of production, had its ideal foundations in the
repudiation
of all idolatry of the flesh." Furthermore, the Puritans rejected any spending
of money on
entertainment that didn't "serve God's glory." They felt a duty to hold and
increase their
possessions. It was ascetic Protestantism that gave this attitude its ethical
foundation. It
had the psychological effect of freeing the acquisition if goods from
traditionalist ethics'
inhibitions. Asceticism also condemned dishonesty and impulsive greed. The
pursuit of
wealth in itself was bad, but attaining it as the result of one's labor was a
sign of God's
blessing.
Thus, the Puritan outlook favored the development of rational bourgeois economic
life,
and "stood at the cradle of the modern economic man." It is true that once
attained,
wealth had a secularizing effect. In fact, we see that the full economic
effects of these
religious movements actually came after the peak of religious enthusiasm. "The
religious
roots died out slowly, giving way to utilitarian worldliness." However, these
religious
roots left its more secular successor an "amazingly good" conscience about
acquiring
money, as long as it was done legally. The religious asceticism also gave the
businessmen
industrious workers, and assured him that inequality was part of God's design.
Thus, one
of the major elements of the spirit of modern capitalism, rational conduct
based on
the idea of a calling, was "born" from the spirit of Christian asceticism. The
same values
exist in both, with the spirit of capitalism simply lacking the religious basis.
Weber observes, "The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do
so."
Asceticism helped build the "tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order."
People
born today have their lives determined by this mechanism. Their care for
external goods
has become "an iron cage." Material goods have gained an unparalleled control
over the
individual. The spirit of religious asceticism "has escaped from the cage," but
capitalism
no longer needs its support. The "idea of duty in one's calling prowls about in
our lives
like the ghost of dead religious beliefs." People even stop trying to justify
it at all.
In conclusion, Weber mentions some of the areas that a more complete study would
have
to explore. First, one would have to explore the impact of ascetic
rationalism on other
areas of life, and its historical development would have to be more rigorously
traced.
Furthermore, it would be necessary to investigate how Protestant asceticism was
itself
influenced by social conditions, including economic conditions. He says, "it
is, of
course, not my aim to substitute for a one-sided materialistic an equally one-
sided
spiritualistic causal interpretation of culture and of history."
Commentary
In this chapter, Weber attempts to connect asceticism with the modern
capitalistic spirit.
His first describes how the Puritan ethic encouraged hard work and the pursuit
of profit.
These claims are closely linked to Weber's observations until now. These
ascetic
Protestants were looking for signs of their own salvation, and their concept of
the calling
made them look for those signs in worldly achievements. Spending their money on
luxuries was disrespectful to God, and they were expected to pour any profits
back into
their callings. These values are all closely linked to the capitalistic ethic,
and Weber does
a good job of drawing out the sources of these values. However, the next
connection
Weber makes is more troubling. Weber says that from this ethic, a system of
capitalism
emerged that no longer required ascetic values to sustain itself. These values
became the
capitalist spirit, and now we are all forced to follow them. However, Weber
does not tell
the story of how the capitalist system emerged, and by what mechanism ascetic
Puritan
values were replaced by something else. This suggests a gap in Weber's
theoretical
model. Do you consider this to be a serious gap, or is its content suggested in
other parts
of his work (such as Chapter 2, on the spirit of capitalism)?
