Max Weber Sociology 100

1. Max WeberSociology 100 Time is money

2. The Spirit of Capitalism • “What we understand by the ‘spirit’ of capitalism in terms of what we deem ‘essential’ from our point of view, is by no means the only possible way of understanding it. This is in the nature of ‘historical concept-formation,’ which for its methodological purposes does not seek to embody historical reality in abstract generic concepts but endeavors to integrate them into concrete configurations which are always and inevitably individual in character.” • Not a “conceptual ‘definition’ but only a provisional illustration of what is here meant by the ‘spirit’ of capitalism.” (9) • Ideal types & ideal typical analysis • Not a philosophical definition, but an emphasis of certain characteristics common to most incidences of a thing or event • “ideal” = ‘referring to ideas,’ ≠ ‘perfect’

3. The Spirit of Capitalism • Ben Franklin • “‘Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though his spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.’” (9) • “The essence of this ‘philosophy of avarice’ is the idea of the duty of the individual to work toward the increase of his wealth.” • This “has for Franklin the character of an ethically slanted maxim for the conduct of life. This has the specific sense in which we propose to use the concept of the ‘spirit of capitalism.’” (11)

4. The Spirit of Capitalism • An unusual strength of character is required of the capitalist entrepreneur “if he is not to lose his sober self-control and face moral or economic shipwreck. As well as energy and clarity of vision, he will need certain outstanding ‘ethical’ qualities to win the absolutely indispensable confidence of his clients and of the workers when introducing these innovations and to maintain the vigor necessary to overcome the innumerable obstacles he will meet.” (22)

5. The Spirit of Capitalism • “All Franklin’s moral precepts, however, have a utilitarian slant. Honesty is useful because it brings credit. So are punctuality, hard work, moderation, etc., and they are only virtues for this reason—from which it would follow that the appearance of honesty serves the same purpose, then this would suffice, and any unnecessary surplus of this virtue would inevitably seem, in Franklin’s eyes, like unproductive and reprehensible profligacy.”(11)

6. The Spirit of Capitalism • “The ‘summum bonum’ of thus ‘ethic’ is the making of money and yet more money, coupled with a strict avoidance of all uninhibited enjoyment. Indeed, it is so completely devoid of all eudaimonstic, let alone hedonist, motives, so much purely thought of as an end in itself that it appears as something wholly transcendent and irrational, beyond the ‘happiness’ or the ‘benefit’ of mankind.” (12) • The ethic of capitalism does not require religious belief, and they may in modern times even be negatively correlated (23) • If not a hostility to religious belief, an indifference toward it

7. The Spirit of Capitalism • “If one were to ask [capitalists] what is the purpose of their restless chase and why they are never satisfied with what they have acquired (something which must seem inexplicable to those who are entirely oriented to this world), they would answer, if they had an answer at all, ‘to provide for children and grandchildren. More frequently, however, [...] they would answer, with greater justification, that business, with its ceaseless work, had quite simply become ‘indispensable to their life.’ That is in fact their only true motivation, and it expresses at the same time the irrational element of this way of conducting one’s life, whereby a man exists for his business, not vice versa.” (23)

8. The Spirit of Capitalism • This ‘spirit’ was needed only to initiate capitalism, not to maintain it • Modern capitalism does not require an ethic: “Today’s capitalist economic order is a monstrous cosmos, into which the individual is born and which in practice is, for him, at least as an individual, simply a given, an immutable shell in which he is obliged to live.” (13) • If he doesn’t, he is selected out by economic forces (22) • But it is not the product of economic forces: “In order that this conduct of life and attitude toward one’s ‘profession’, ‘adapted’ as it is to the peculiar requirements of capitalism, could be ‘selected’ and emerge victorious over others, it obviously had to first come into being, and not just in individuals, but as an attitude held in common by groups of people. The origin of this attitude is therefore what needs to be explained.” (13) • Ideas cause social change (vs. Marx)

9. Origins of the Spirit of Capitalism • “We are merely asking which of certain characteristic elements of [modern capitalist] culture might be attributable to the influence of the Reformation as historical cause.” • It is not possible that it was a “historically necessary development” as “innumerable historical constellations, especially purely political processes, which do not fit into any kind of economic ‘law,’ but fit into no economic scheme of any kind, had to come together in order for the newly created churches to continue to exist at all.” (36) • Nor could capitalism only have sprung from Protestant belief. The question is only “to establish whether and to what extent religious influences have in fact been partially responsible for the qualitative shaping and quantitative expansion” of the spirit of capitalism. (36) • Contingency & complexity of history

10. Traditionalism • “Backward” attitude toward work (14-17) • Not an absence of greed • Work not thought of as having ethical value • When pay is raised, traditionalist laborers work less • Example: if $10/day of labor is raised to $20/day of labor, traditionalist workers go home after half a day • Traditionalist: Commodity  Money  Commodity • Capitalist: Money  Commodity  Money • In the spirit of capitalism, by contrast, work is conceived of “as though it were an absolute end in itself—a ‘calling.’” • Bankers in 15th C. Florence view their work & wealth amoral or even immoral, but Puritans of 18th C. Pennsylvania, in a fragile, poor economy, work is regarded as a moral good (26) • Cannot be caused by purely material conditions

11. Calling • “Now it is unmistakable that the German word ‘Beruf,’ and even more clearly the English word ‘calling,’ carry at least some religious connotations—namely, those of a task set by God—and the more strongly we emphasize the word in a particular case, the more strongly felt these connotations become.” (28) • Latin, Catholic Europe, as well as Greece and Rome, have no equivalent word referring to one’s work • “By contrast, all Protestant peoples have such an expression.” • Vocation

12. Calling • “What was definitely new was the estimation of fulfillment of duty within secular callings as being of the absolutely highest level possible for moral activity. It was this that led, inevitably, to the idea of the religious significance of secular everyday labor and gave rise to the concept of the calling.” (29) • According to Weber’s reading of Luther, “the fulfillment of innerworldly duties is absolutely the only way to please God, that this and only this is God’s will, and that therefore every legitimate occupation [Beruf] is quite simply of equal value.” (29) • The stonemason is esteemed as much as the priest, and more than the monk, who is selfish & lazy

13. Calling • Luther had no intention of promoting the “capitalist spirit” • Attack on usury & taking interest • Biblical authority in faith • Bible tends to support traditionalist labor, not capitalist, with labor either accepted or irrelevant (30-31) • “The objective historical order into which the individual had been placed by God became for him more and more the direct outflow of the divine will”, & the individual should thus accept his or her station in life. • The calling was for Luther “bound to tradition. The calling was something which man had to accept as a divine decree; it was something to which he had to ‘submit’” (31-32)

14. Calling • The idea of a calling is not from Lutheranism, but from Calvinism • A different ethical system from either Catholicism or Lutheranism, “valuing life as a task to be accomplished.” (34) • Life & work as a mission from God

15. Calling • But Reformers are not “founders of societies of ‘ethical culture’ or representatives of social reform or of cultural ideals. The salvation of souls and this alone is at the heart of their life and work. Their ethical goals and the practical effects of their teaching are all anchored firmly here and are the consequences of purely religious motives.” (35) • These consequences may be “unforeseen and indeed unwished for” • The history and evolution of ideas, engaged with material forces but not determined by them • Ideas have their own force