How Protestant Christianity Made Us Rich.
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Western countries are characterised by their democratic political systems, the prominence of Western religions like Judaism and Christianity and the uptake of capitalism. We are often told that the Industrial Revolution is what drove Europe and North America to become capitalist countries during the 1800s, providing the modern world with new medical devices, machinery and computer technologies.
However, the German sociologist Max Weber argued that this was false because the rise of capitalism was not a result of economic factors but rather capitalism was deeply connected to the values and beliefs of Protestant Christians.
Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" is a profound work in the field of sociology that explores the connection between the rise of capitalism and the Protestant work ethic. The purpose of this video is to understand how Protestant Christianity was critical in the development of capitalism and how it has shaped the world today.
Sources:
Franklin, Benjamin. "Advice to a Young Tradesman, (21 July 1748)". Founders Online. National Archives and Records Administration/University of Virginia Press. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
McKinnon, AM (2010). "Elective affinities of the Protestant ethic: Weber and the chemistry of capitalism" (PDF). Sociological Theory. 28 (1): 108-126.
Michael Shea (6 October 2015). "The Protestant Ethic and the Language of Austerity". Discover Society.
Max Weber; Peter R. Baehr; Gordon C. Wells (2002). The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-043921-2. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
This is a mighty bizarre take given that Martin Luther, in the 1520s, had a disdain for the lust for profits and usury. In multiple sermons on usury and commerce he stated,
"Daily the poor are defrauded. New burdens and high prices are imposed. Everyone misuses the market in his own willful, conceited, arrogant way, as if it were his right and privilege to sell his goods as dearly as he pleases without a word of criticism.” And again,
"After the devil there is no greater human enemy on earth than a miser and usurer, for he desires to be above everyone."
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the centuries later concept of the "protestant work ethic", a polite turn of phrase used to obscure exploration masked as hard work.
As a side note, who is us? 1% take 2/3 of all existent wealth as we speak (2023).
Coming back to point. This video & Weber ignore a lot of the protestant revolts that happened in Germany, like those of the peasant's wars that had clearly anti-capitalist goals. I think Weber is more focused on calvinism than protestantism in general, so he might be free of blame.
If we look at the peasants demands to the Swabian league, there are at least 2 articles that are against accumulation of wealth and private property :
5. The nobles have taken sole possession of the forest. When the poor man needs something, he must buy it for twice its price. Consequently, all the forests that were not bought (meaning former community forests, which many rulers had simply appropriated) shall be returned to the village so that anybody can satisfy his needs therefrom for timber and firewood.
10. Many [nobles] have appropriated meadows and fields belonging to the towns (commons, which were at the disposal of all townspeople). We want them returned to all of us in common.
These revolts were completely linked to the protestant reforms but were completely opposed to capitalist values, the revolts are included in both Marx and Engels analysis
Very succinct explanation. Thanks
Interesting video!
Great video, learned a lot
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a misrepresentation of Christianity. In no way does the Protestants or the Puritans have believed that they can be saved by doing good works. That is even one of the reason why the Reformation started. The Puritans encouraged working hard because that's what the Bible says, to work for the Lord (Col 3:23-24). And by serving the Lord with our endeavors, Christ is glorified.
Christians do it because they are already saved by the grace of God, but never to get saved by doing those works.
This idea of the "protestant work ethic", as presented uncritically here and in Weber's original work, can be considered at least not true for a few reasons. First of all, it assigns the emergence of Capitalism not to a bunch of overlapping, complicated societal factors (the industrial revolution, the emergence of ideas like banking, stocks, etc.) that just happened to coalesce in Western and Northern Europe, but instead to a general vibe of how people act (i.e. Protestants just work harder I guess). The modern idea of a bank as we know it emerged in Northern Italy, decades before Martin Luther was even born. Second, it doesn't explain how other places could have adopted industrialism or contributed to industrialism that were not protestant (other European but non-protestant countries were also able to industrialize or contribute to Industrialization or Capitalism, much later but still). Think again of Italy, or Japan, more recently China, or even Russians after the Communists took over, or even of the many non-protestant immigrants that fed the economic machine of the United States). Third, one should keep in mind that many protestants even during the emergence of Capitalism were critical of wealth accumulation (Dutch Calvinists especially). Fourth, one should keep in mind that this idea can quite naturally be used to exclude others or as a value judgement for others. Crediting Capitalism and hard work to a "Protestant work ethic" presupposes that other groups like Jewish people or non-Protestant Christian groups do not value hard work or could not engage in capitalism successfully, which historically is completely untrue. One should tread with caution here.
Stop smoking copium kid
All lives matter, except for socialist like you 👍🏻