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Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism

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Max Weber is considered one of the fathers of modern sociology. His work continues to influence and confuse today’s best thinkers and writers. His most well-known work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, is an essay that is often discussed, argued, and even completely dismissed by other intellectuals. One of the more interesting lines written in the essay is,
In the field of its highest development, in the United States, the pursuit of wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become associated with purely mundane passions, which often actually give it the character of sports. (p 124)
As he concludes the secularism of capitalism—that is, taking the religious aspect out of modern capitalism—he also suggests …show more content…

For Weber, this asceticism, or calling, is “one of the fundamental elements of the spirit of modern capitalism, and not only of that but of all modern culture (p. 122).” He even questions what is to follow without the foundation of this modern system.
“No one knows who will live in this cage in the future, or whether at the end of this tremendous development entirely new prophets will arise, or there will be great rebirth of old ideas and ideals, or, if neither, mechanized petiriciation, embellished with a sort of convulsive self-importance. (pg 124)”
Weber comments on how the religious asceticism left the cage (p. 124). However, he does not necessarily suggest whether it is good or bad, but does say it has become …show more content…

(p. 124)
In certain areas of the text, Weber contradicts himself. Particularly, in this case. For example, he uses Benjamin Franklin’s quote to illustrate how the founding of Protestant asceticism morphed into the modern understanding of capitalism, but also against the premise that capitalism does not need asceticism for further growth (p. 123). Franklin’s quote is even an example against the argument of modern capitalism becoming pointless as he explain why “time is money (p. 14-16)”. However, the problem is, individuals tend to “[abandon] the attempt to justify it at all (p. 124).” Individuals might doing the motions of capitalism because this is the modern system. They are not able to change the construct in which they are in, and as Weber highlights, individuals cannot explain what or why they are pursuing capitalism. Franklin does not explain why wealth, money, and time are important and where it came from. He just describes how it fits into the current societal

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