Max Weber

The Protestant Ethic

moral justification for the accumulation of private wealth

inner-worldly ascetisicim

a devotion to building god’s kingdom on earth through daily labor

• faith through a lifetime of ceaseless and efficient labor

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What is viewed as a sin?

waste and inefficiency

Spiritual Endeavors?

• maximization of productivity

• cost-cutting

• rational accounting methods (account for every penny spent and earned)

• wealth is accumulated for the greater glorification before God

Result of The Protestant Ethic

enormous economic growth, since the profits are invested back into the firm → capitalist “investment cycle”

Worldly Asceticism

characteristic of eastern religions and not conducive to the rise of capitalism

• spirituality through transcendental meditation/prayer

• removing oneself from mundane earthly life to get closer to God

• cloistered monk closes to God

• economic activity and labor are not sanctified (needed to survive but not consequential to the soul)

Doctrine of Predestination

God’s chosen or elect

• uncertainty of not knowing who is saved impels followers to look for signs of grace

ex. wealth

Moral Justification for Economic Inequality

protestantism as a moral justification for inequality created by capitalism

• haves and have nots on earth represent those who are saved and not saved

• worthy and unworthy of God’s Grace

• social order = heavenly order

Weber’s three dimensional model of stratification

1. class

2. Status

3. Party

Class

people belong to the same class when they share the same economic life chances or opportunities and income

• stratified according to the relations to the production of goods

• unlike marx not restricted to ownership or non-ownership

Indicators of Class Situation

• income

• occupation

• education

Status

every aspect of life that is determined by the positive or negative, social allocation of honor, or prestige

• stratified according to the consumption of goods

• not about wealth, but lifestyle

• similar tastes, interests, customs,

Party

organized representatives of class or status-based groups

• political parties aspire to power

• any group which strives for a goal in a planned and organized manner

Types of Authority

1. Charismatic

2. Traditional

3. Rational-legal/bureaucratic

Charismatic

social order based on individual’s ability to use emotion to foster loyalty

Traditional

social order based on the respect for and commitment to past social relations (go with what you know and what is familiar)

rational-legal/bureaucratic

social order based on the respect for rules and procedures, not people

• under the law, individuals are treated equally without bias

• access to wealth, status, and power is based on rules that reward individuals on merit or competency that can be measured

• behavior bound by rules = more predictable and less spontaneous

The sweep of “rationalization”

rationalization as the dominant feature of history

legal bureaucratic authority = dehumanizing and alienating

bureacrat/manager = opressor

“iron cage” = imprisons humanity

life = bland, routine, and impersonal