Religious Traditions as Interpreted by Max Weber

On the other hand, capitalist economy contained an element of irrationality; weber cites "the devotion to labour in the life history [which] . . . has grown . . . so irrational from the standpoint of strictly eudaemoninistic [happiness-oriented] self-interest" (Weber, 1992, p. 78). That kind of dedication may not clear been the cause of capitalism in history, but it is consistent with capitalism's preoccupation with material aspects of experience, as well as with the Puritan realisation of the experience of worldly prosperity with God's favor. Later Weber says that the "calling" notion that resulted in "rational conduct" characteristic of capitalistic mixer organization ad market protocols, evolved from "the spirit of Christian asceticism" (p. 180), or self-denial in the service of a perceived higher good. The common element: deliberate desertion or sublimation of physical gratification for work. thus sublimation becomes "ascetic Protestantism" (p. 183). Thus one arrives at the concept of the Protestant Work Ethic, which sewer be discerned in the fundamental ethical configuration of a number of historical figures, from John Calvin to Benjamin Franklin.

This squares with Weber's focus on social st

ructure as a consequence of rational action. He cites (Protestant) Adam Smith's scotch theory, which amounts to a "moral justification of worldly activity" (p. 81), and which famously includes the tenet of an "invisible hand" of market order and rationality held to be a feature of capitalism. In a footnote Weber (213) also quotes Smith's explanation of general acquiescence in capitalism in terms of "self-love," or the advantages derived by rational participants who transform what they have of value in the capitalist marketplace. These are not sexual or psychological but material benefits. For the affinity between rational action and self-interest involves formulating the compulsions of individuals in economic rather than spiritual terms, i.e., in terms of cost and benefit instead of good and evil.

It is important to recognize that Weber's approach to his field is systematic to the point of being scientific. Despite the religious relegate matter, Weber does not resort to polemical or moralistic rhetoric, except in so far as he valorizes and universalizes the concept of rationalism, or rationalization, that invisible force, process, and attitude whereby a union evolves away from a world explained by superstition, magic, and emotion toward social structure and organization that can be controlled (or, at whatever rate, explained). That does not mean that a rational attitude guarantees a perfectly reasonable and just social structure, still slight rational humans populating it. But the whole point of stressing the slow-wittedness of Western capital and industry among sectarian Protestants (p. 35) is to show the world-historical, or perhaps world-social significance of the Reformation as a considered, results-oriented tone down with the institutional agency of the Catholic Church. In particular in the medieval period, the Church was identified with the primacy of adherence to the official translation of
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.