The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism
By Max Weber
This controversial piece of work was written at the turn of the 20th century by German philosopher Max Weber. I had the opportunity to read this text in depth when I studied under the direction of Prof. Joshua Derman, Associate Dean of the School of Humanities in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
It is a really dense text to read and the wordings (and translation) can get quite convoluted. Sometimes, it feels as if Weber is going around in circles to explain a concept that the readers already understand, only to make the readers lose their original understanding of the subject matter. Do not read this book alone.
Weber attempts to prove that the genesis of capitalism came from Protestant Christian teachings after the Reformation. That while the components of capitalism were present as long ago as Ancient China, they were not consciously used as a tool for the express means of accumulating capital until after the Reformation.
It is a very important book in the realm of social sciences so do read it if you plan to engage in that field, otherwise, try not to touch it.
Known as “Die protestantische Ethik und der “Geist” des Kapitalismus” in its first edition in German, try and read it in its original language. Meanings often get lost in translation and scholars frequently defer to the knowledge of the dictionary when attempting to disseminate the message of Weber’s works.
