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The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism: and Other Writings (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) Paperback – April 1, 2002

by Max Weber (Author), Peter Baehr (Author), Gordon C. Wells (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 234 ratings
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In The Protestant Ethic, Max Weber opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and relates the rise of the capitalist economy to the Calvinist belief in the moral value of hard work and the fulfillment of one's worldly duties.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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  1. Print length
    392 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2002
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    7.75 x 5.07 x 0.84 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0140439218
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0140439212
  9. See all details
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About the Author

Max Weber (1864-1920), German sociologist, one of the founders of modern sociology. He emphasised cultural and political factors as key influences on economic development and individual behaviour. Weber argued for a scientific and value-free approach to research, yet highlighted the importance of meaning and consciousness in understanding social action. His ideas continue to stimulate thought on social stratification, power, organisations, law, and religion. Peter Baehr teaches in the department of politics and sociology at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics (April 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140439218
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140439212
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 5.07 x 0.84 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 234 ratings

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Max Weber

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
234 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

WSV1975
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly relevant for anyone who wants to know America!
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2012
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I can not believe I waited until I was 59 years old to read this book in its entirity. This is a clear, concise analysis of the cultural factors that created the "capitalist spirit" in general and in America specifically. Weber clearly analyses the belief systems of Protestantism that created the "Protestant Ethic" that compelled the protestant Americans to work hard, deligently attempting to earn capital and then to use that capital to further God's work here on earth. That wealth was not to be accumulated for personal consumption, but for further investment. Further investment meant more jobs, and a better life for others. In addition, profit was seen a God's blessing and was to be used by the individual to provide charity to those who were destitute.

It is amazing how this culture is evident in our lives today, even among those who are no longer Christians. Look at Buffet, he does not live ostentatiously, he creates and accumulates capital, he is still working at his advanced age, he works constantly, and he has given away his profits to charity. This is an almost perfect example of the protestant ethic. Look at Ted Turner's work and charity. Poor old Ted does not understand the forces of the culture that motivate him, but he is being carried along by the current that has been handed down to us by our forefathers. The same can be said for the Gates and their foundation, working to provide charity to the people of the earth. The same can be said for the Mellons, Carnieges, and others of thier ilk. Work hard, it is a calling, it is important to create wealth, it is good to create wealth, and then provide charity with that wealth. That is the ethic, and Weber tells us how it happened, and why it happened exclusively in America.
42 people found this helpful
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HCE
5.0 out of 5 stars the Christ seems to have acquired an M.B.A.
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2009
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As the Church of Rome had engaged in--among other dubious practices--the selling of indulgences in order to, e.g., buy off time in Purgatory, men and women religious of the day railed against what they deemed to be unchecked deviation from Holy Writ. The initial impulse to question had gained momentum and the dissent then developed into a radically new spin on being a Christian in the world--a world now also galvanized by the move from a hide-bound political economy of Lord and vassal to one of capital investment, commerce, and industry.

New Christian tenets inviting religious individuation and including highly compelling ideas and praxes such as predestination also manifest both a theological relativism as well as a spiritual angst, with both realities eventually wedded to the political economy of industry and enterprise as a surrogate Christian berufen, or spiritual "calling" in the world. This conjunction of derivative, often highly reactive "spirituality," its attendant anxieties, and the socio-economic outlets for neurotic religious foreboding and portent in industry and enterprise coalesced in a rationalization informed by efficiency and calculation, i.e., the hallmarks of capitalism, both then and now.

The prescience of this early 20th century view for today's Weltanschauung is striking, i.e., the neo-liberal agenda for unbridled market depredations in the Third World milieu--as the "natural" progression for an enterprise/industry "ethic" ("code" ?)supposedly divinely ordained--may then impose its will to power/capital anywhere it sends its latter-day Crusading military forces. Indeed, ultra-right hyper-religious Christian fundamentalists in the US have insinuated themselves into DC's business-as-usual quest of Empire, i.e., the Washington Consensus, informing its agenda in both overt K-Street style propaganda--to which the hopelessley naive willingly align themselves--as well as more "subtle" (to the degree that they are capable of this dynamic) inroads via local agencies, i.e., Church collectives.
8 people found this helpful
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Enrique Lerdau
4.0 out of 5 stars Max Weber, Getting to Know Him
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2005
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This classic is more referred to than read by economists in Anglo-Saxon countries where Weber is considered mainly a sociologist. When I went to Graduate School (Wisconsin) it was not even mentioned. A pity, because it is a milestone in the search for explanations of historical events, in this case the extraordinary spread of capitalism in Protestant countries. One

may not buy Weber's thesis in part or in toto, but it is so carefully argued that dissent has to be very nuanced and scholarly to be persuasive. (An example of such creative dissent is Tawney's "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism").

This Edition contains a fairly good translation; its main weakness is the arrangement of notes (Editor's and Weber's) at the end of each chapter. Hard to find because tops of pages don't contain chapter titles. And the notes are an important part of the whole.

The book also contains several of Weber's rebuttals to some citicisms that he received. Since these critiques are not reprinted here, the rebuttals are not fully self-explanatory. Moreover, this section is not inspiring for another reason: the tone of academic petulance diminishes the image of a great scholar.
75 people found this helpful
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Valarie
5.0 out of 5 stars interesting read
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2021
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Weber had a different view of American protestant ethics and viewed it from an outside observation and analysis. Personally, if applied to biblical warnings of self indulgence and social entrapments of control it becomes easy to see his concerns about the American commercial ethic and influences in our churches.
2 people found this helpful
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W. Robert Gray
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in the sociology of religion that should be ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2018
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A classic in the sociology of religion that should be read by anyone who wants to know the animating principle behind American life: secular Calvinism.
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Maggie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2018
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Had to read for a class, but still good book
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Istiaque Rahi
5.0 out of 5 stars Alternative Perspective
Reviewed in India on September 13, 2021
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Very interesting hypothesis on the ghost of capitalism
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Adrian J. Smith
3.0 out of 5 stars True classic, substandard edition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2018
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The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a cornerstone sociological work that Max Weber illustrates with excellent precision, and helps provide an adequate demostration as to why the US is the capitalist nation par excellence.
However, the Penguin edition falls short on a number of fronts. First of all is the lengthy introduction that becomes no more than a tedious chronology of the reception of Weber's work.
Then is the nature of the footnoting. Rather than using a more modern, kindle friendly method of footnoting, clicks of footnotes take you back and forth through the book, and the huge collection of footnotes really splits up the book, making it troublesome to read at times.
Penguin is a great publishing house, but this edition appears to be lazily composed, is not up to usual Penguin standards, and mars what is otherwise a true classic.
For Weber's work itself, 5 stars, but this edition only narrowly merits 3.
3 people found this helpful
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BWB
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a translation of the final edition.
Reviewed in Germany on March 29, 2018
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Be careful; this is a translation of the 1904 edition, not of Weber's expanded 1920 edition, where he added material to answer critics and to back up his case.
That said, Baehr's translation is not bad.
2 people found this helpful
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