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Essay Comparing The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism

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In the books The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, The Condition of Postmodernity by David Harvey, and Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy by Saskia Sassen, the shifting relations to labor over time are seen undoubtedly. Each of these works takes a different perspective on labor and capitalism (Weber on logical labor thought, Harvey on the rigidity and flexibility of industry throughout history, and Sassen on the consequences of expulsions in the economic present), yet their content still seems to complement one another.
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism presents rational thought brought about by protestantism as a main factor in the change of society’s orientations towards labor. Weber says that there is a methodology brought about by protestantism that leads to the creation of specialists and organized ranking systems in businesses. The rationalist state lead to labor being organized by capitalist bookkeeping. Labor was also more …show more content…

This calling gave labor a religious meaning that made people feel dutiful. It was as if people felt like because they were of the world, they should do their best to make it better. People united into systems to do good works for life in order to be used by God as he saw fit. These unified systems labored together because they believed helping others and society in ways that does not directly affect you is one of God’s requests of his children.
Protestants worked long hours because it was considered sinful, according to many high up religious figures, to be sedentary. They argued that relaxation led to temptation and that laziness should be avoided at all costs. Since protestants worked so often, it is no wonder that they would gain quite a bit of money for their time spent laboring, but this acquisition of wealth was to never be used for selfish

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