«Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is interesting as an investigation into the early Calvinist worldview, but I don’t think it’s well-supported as an explanation of economic development.»
This. I remember cracking it for the first time after having been marinated in the Weberian discourse for years and being like “This looks like a good book on the history of Calvinist theology but how is this sociology again?”
It's basically a phenomenological explanation of capitalism: early Protestant worldview leads to systematic labor, saving, and reinvestment, spurring capitalism. Only Weber hedges on it actually being an explanation -- keeps saying the worldview not necessarily a cause but has an "elective affinity" with capitalism. In any case, it's not clear that there was an actual correlation between Protestantism and economic development.
See: Delacroix, Jacques, and Francois Nielsen. "The beloved myth: Protestantism and the rise of industrial capitalism in nineteenth-century Europe." Social Forces 80, no. 2 (2001): 509-553.
I found funny when Richard Hanania said Weber's book "blew his mind."
«Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is interesting as an investigation into the early Calvinist worldview, but I don’t think it’s well-supported as an explanation of economic development.»
This. I remember cracking it for the first time after having been marinated in the Weberian discourse for years and being like “This looks like a good book on the history of Calvinist theology but how is this sociology again?”
It's basically a phenomenological explanation of capitalism: early Protestant worldview leads to systematic labor, saving, and reinvestment, spurring capitalism. Only Weber hedges on it actually being an explanation -- keeps saying the worldview not necessarily a cause but has an "elective affinity" with capitalism. In any case, it's not clear that there was an actual correlation between Protestantism and economic development.
See: Delacroix, Jacques, and Francois Nielsen. "The beloved myth: Protestantism and the rise of industrial capitalism in nineteenth-century Europe." Social Forces 80, no. 2 (2001): 509-553.
I found funny when Richard Hanania said Weber's book "blew his mind."