The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber Analysis

In my interpretation of Max Weber’s, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, I believe that he argues that protestant ideas were the foundation of capitalism, and our modern capitalist society today should continue with the “calling” (pg.120 of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism) which is our necessity and duty to work as capitalism has integrated itself as part of our lifestyles. People are now even more ambitious when it comes to the attainment of wealth which relatively ties in with the ideas of the protestant ethic where it’s praised to have wealth. Therefore, I will argue that our modern capitalist society is a victim of the European protestant ethic which ties in with Weber’s argument that we are forced to work today in order to be able to keep up with this society. 

According to Weber, the “Protestant likes to eat well, while the Catholic wants to sleep soundly”  which argues the idea that the Catholic’s acquisition drive for wealth is far inferior to the Protestant’s drive (Weber, pg.5). Therefore, I believe that Weber is praising the Protestant’s desire to be ambitious as he claims that the Protestant’s have taken advantage of three great things which are: “religion, commerce, and liberty” (Weber, pg.8). He’s praising the idea that the religious aspect of life, based on Protestantism ideas, gives incentives to work hard as by working you are essentially forming a stronger relationship with God and creating your own wealth. Then ascetic Protestantism comes into play. With ascetic Protestantism, it is undignified to enjoy the pleasures of life and to use your wealth on materialistic items because, in this life, you shouldn’t be doing anything with the money you earn (Weber, pg.115). Instead, it is expected of you to hoard that money. Then I question and perhaps Weber agrees with me, why would you want to earn money if you’re not going to do anything with it or at least have some enjoyment from it? How could you possibly not be tempted to use the money you have earned to treat yourself? But then again, if I were to hoard my money, I could increase my wealth and have the luxury to spend it in whatever way I desire, thus, feeding into the idea of having the “ascetic compulsion to save” (Weber, pg.117) leading to ambition.

In order to achieve my monetary ambitious goals, I must be forced to work. According to Kathi Weeks, during the Fordist period or Industrial Revolution, people were more inclined to spend than to save because people were “under excessive pressure from the temptations of wealth”(Weeks, pg.49). Therefore, I can argue that people in our modern capitalist society have let go of the religious ideas that were tied in with work and replaced those religious ideas with survival and ambitious instincts. Weber writes that someone does not “by nature” (Weber, pg.16) want to make money but instead has the need to work to be able to buy essential needs such as food because those bills don’t pay themselves. Also, people keep on striving for more wealth leading to the accumulation of money because they want to be able to be part of that one percent of people who have the luxury to spend their money on whatever thing they desire. As Kathi Weeks would state, people are now striving for “an avenue for personal development and meaning” (Weeks, pg,60). All that I just mentioned, falls into the idea of our modern “capitalist spirit”. Weber states that our modern “capitalist spirit” is “a shell as hard as steel” (Weber, pg.121) in which I think that Weber is arguing that people are responsible for forming this new type of capitalist society where greed is prominent. But, how did the “capitalist spirit” become so powerful? I think it’s because now instead of working for God, you are working for an income for which in time can accumulate and I think that is our greatest motivator now; the great desire to be rich.  

Ultimately, this modern capitalist society is a “monstrous cosmos” (Weber, pg.13) and this all ties back to how the ascetic European protestant ethic incentivized people to form a new capitalist society for the desires of temptations and the enjoyment of wealth. Therefore, with this capitalistic society, it is politically important to understand that our interactions with each other, especially at work, have to do with who wields the most authority. For example, I think that the ultimate goal of some of the representatives in the House of Representatives is to be able to become the Speaker of the House. Thus, we want to eventually become that person who holds the most power and in order to do that, we must work. Work is too engrained in this society that it’s hard to think about a life without having to do work.