Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is one of the best-known and most enduring texts of classical sociology, continually inspirational and widely read by both scholars and students. In an insightful interpretation, Jack Barbalet discloses that Weber's work is not simply about the cultural origins of capitalism but an allegory concerning the Germany of his day. Situating The Protestant Ethic in the development of Weber's prior and subsequent writing, Barbalet traces changes in his understanding of key concepts including 'calling' and 'rationality'. In a close analysis of the ethical underpinnings of the capitalist spirit and of the institutional structure of capitalism, Barbalet identifies continuities between Weber and the eighteenth-century founder of economic science, Adam Smith, as well as Weber's contemporary, the American firebrand Thorstein Veblen. Finally, by considering Weber's investigation of Judaism and capitalism, important aspects of his account of Protestantism and capitalism are revealed.
Author(s): Jack Barbalet
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 264
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Note on citations......Page 13
Introduction......Page 15
1 From the inaugural lecture to the Protestant Ethic: political education and German futures......Page 29
The inaugural lecture......Page 31
Religion and economic outcomes......Page 34
Political education and calling......Page 39
Minding the gap......Page 48
Science and values......Page 50
Conclusion......Page 57
2 From the Protestant Ethic to the vocation lectures: Beruf, rationality and emotion......Page 60
Beruf, rationality and the modern personality......Page 62
Beruf, rationality and emotion in the Protestant Ethic......Page 67
Beruf, rationality and emotion in the vocation lectures......Page 72
Weber’s retreat from ascetic rationalism......Page 79
Conclusion......Page 85
3 Passions and profits: the emotional origins of capitalism in seventeenth-century England......Page 89
Profits......Page 92
Passions......Page 99
A presentation of Passions of the Minde......Page 104
Management of passion by means of passion......Page 107
Expression of emotions......Page 111
Capitalism, seventeenth-century Catholicism and cultural apparatus for market actors......Page 116
Conclusion......Page 121
4 Protestant virtues and deferred gratification: Max Weber and Adam Smith on the spirit of capitalism......Page 125
Moral Sentiments as a sociological text......Page 127
Protestant virtues......Page 129
Deferred gratification......Page 132
Self-control and self-command......Page 139
Emotion and reason in self-command......Page 143
Smith’s social principles and Weber’s religious legitimation......Page 151
Conclusion......Page 157
5 Ideal-type, institutional and evolutionary analyses of the origins of capitalism: Max Weber and Thorstein Veblen......Page 160
Capitalist personality......Page 162
Capitalist institutions......Page 165
The state and capitalism......Page 172
The variable incidence of capitalism......Page 176
The religious factor, again......Page 180
Ideal-type method......Page 183
Evolutionary method......Page 186
Instincts and institutions......Page 190
Conclusion......Page 193
6 The Jewish question: religious doctrine and sociological method......Page 197
Jewish rationalism, Protestant rationalism......Page 199
The Jews as a ‘pariah people’......Page 202
Anti-Semitism and Jewish marginalization......Page 204
Talmud or social relations......Page 210
Values and practices......Page 212
The ideal type and universal values......Page 216
Religious belief as a social cause......Page 223
Conclusion......Page 225
Conclusion......Page 228
References......Page 240
Index......Page 258
