The Protestant Ethic

[In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism] Weber argued that the presumed anti-capitalist Puritanical rhetoric of eschewing earthly acquisitiveness was actually an impetus for that very acquisitiveness. The thesis was novel and well-known. Catholicism, Weber argues, was tolerant towards the acquisition of earthly gain and winked at lavish expenditure, an idea engendered by hierarchical structure of the Church (which required struggling and jockeying for "position") as well as its own tradition of lavish expenditure (the church) and its oft-used earthly powers of forgiveness for sin. This might make one conclude that the Catholic ethic was more predisposed towards capitalism than the Protestant (as others, before and since, have argued).

But no, replied Weber. It is true that the Protestant doctrines asked men to accept a humbler station and concentrate on mundane tasks and duties and, without a hierarchical church structure, there was no example of upward-mobility, acquisitiveness and expenditure. Yet it was precisely this that engendered the "work-and-save" ethic that gave rise to capitalism. Dedication to and pride in one's work, Weber claimed, is inevitably a highly productive attitude. The Calvinist ethic of "godliness" through the humble dedication to one's beruf (calling/duty/task), meant economic productivity was consequently higher in Protestant communities. In contrast, the upward-mobility that was possible in hierarchical Catholic society meant that a lot of people found themselves in jobs which they saw only as way-stations to higher and better positions - thereby dedicating only a minimal or nominal attention to the given task as finding it either beneath their dignity or certainly not worth resigning to as their end in life. Consequently, Weber concluded, Catholic communities tended to be less productive.

The higher productivity of Protestant communities was coupled with higher thriftiness. The sinfulness of expenditure and lavish display of earthly goods was a notable Protestant principle. So too was it Catholic, but the Catholic Church had been more prepared to forgive these (and other) sins. The Protestant church had no such power and thus the inducement to the faithful to stay modest in consumption was high. Yet the higher productivity of the Protestant essentially meant that they earned more than the Catholic, and yet because they saved more, they essentially accumulated; the Catholic was less productive but spent more.

Thus, Weber concluded, the idea of "capitalist accumulation" was born directly out of the Protestant ethic - not because the Protestant churches and doctrines condoned acquisitiveness as such (quite the contrary), but rather quite inadvertently through its claim to productive dedication to beruf and thriftiness in consumption. The subsequent ethical "legitimization" of capitalist acquisitiveness in later society under the rubric of "greed is good" was simply a distorted statement of what was already a fact. In no sense, claimed Weber, is the capitalist ethic of "greed" the creator of "capitalist society" (however much it might later be a propagator), but, rather, quite the opposite.

http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/weber.htm

I was first introduced to Max Weber back in college, and his thesis made a profound impact on me. Scholars debate this thesis, but I can't understand why. If you produce more and consume less, you will accumulate more wealth. The fact that anyone would debate this shows they are lazy people thinking wealth comes from a series of "tricks."

We live in strange times. Today, people want a credential instead of learning. People want a job title but not a real job. They want to get rich by getting lucky and getting over but not by giving value for the dollar. They buy shit they can't afford on credit cards and think they are rich. It's all one big fake ass world of lazy fucks. It is precisely the sort of world that Weber describes that the Catholics created with their value system.

It all comes back to hard work and thrift. You don't build wealth with consumption. In order to have capitalism, you must have capital, and capital comes from productivity and thrift. It is paradoxical, but to be rich, live like a pauper and work like a fiend.

The problem with the Protestant ethic is obvious. It was fired by a religious impulse. As an atheist, I can tell you that no deity will be there to reward you. So, it makes sense to earn in order to consume. The problem is that this breaks down. As they say, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. The whole point of being rich is to not be poor.

You have to take money out of the picture. A purely material work ethic results in an unsustainable lifestyle. If you look at work as simply the means to provide for your needs, you will hate the work and do the least amount possible. For me, the answer is to find happiness in work. The money is merely a beneficial side effect. Of course, I'm not going to work for free for somebody else. I can always work for myself which has the same effect as getting paid to work for someone else. Cleaning my house is every bit as fun as getting paid to clean someone else's house.

I think we are the product of our values, and the reason this nation has declined so much is because of the wrong values. We need a new Protestant ethic for this age. People need to work and save. They should strive for authenticity and providing value. The bullshit needs to end. The party is over.

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