The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Weber’s argument that the disposition modern capitalism required — methodical work, reinvestment rather than enjoyment, treating a calling as a duty — was not produced by capitalism but inherited from ascetic Protestantism, especially Calvinism, where worldly success functioned as evidence of election. Once the habit was established, he argues, it outlived the theology that created it and hardened into an “iron cage” of rationalised work that nobody chose.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the Capitalism, Morality, and Culture section as the founding argument that an economic system depends on a prior moral culture — the historical half of the section whose normative half is Boettke.

Where I saw it: On Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Capitalism, Morality, and Culture, saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 211-entry transcription lives on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Max Weber — the author.
• Capitalism — the system whose origin the book explains.
• Christianity — the source of the ethic in Weber’s account.
• Religion — the broader frame of the argument.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the list this came from.