Werte in Betrieb?

Abstract

Abstract The article focuses on the connection between individual Christian religiosity, the patriarchal derivations for ideas of corporate order and the reaction to the labour or sales market using the example of the Saxon-Protestant pulp and paper enterprise Kübler & Niethammer. It shows that in late 19th and early 20th century, religion could be understood in a functional way in entrepreneurial contexts and therefore used flexibly: religious practices formulated as expectations by Christian entrepreneurs could develop into negotiating spaces between the workforce and the market. The latter is analysed in more detail using the example of work on Sundays. At the same time, this article points to the potential of studying industrialised rural regions, in which the connection between religion, business and the market still played a role in the first half of the 20th century – and probably beyond.