An Analysis of the Causes of National Economic Development—— A Reflection on the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Abstract

Published in the early 20th century, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber, studies the relationship between the development of capitalism and religious ethics, protestant Reformation argues that it is in this kind of western Europe that the Protestant ethic is found, thus promoting the development of capitalism in the developed countries, But from the point of view of global economic development, spiritual factors such as religious ethics do have an impact on the development of national economy, but it is undeniable that from the point of view of Marxist historical materialism, it is impossible to promote the development of a country solely by the influence of spiritual factors. The main idea of this article is that the spiritual factors have some influence on the national development, but the main impetus of the national development lies in the influence of the material level, which is mainly manifested in the technological progress, the transformation of the national government measures and so on.