Protestant Ethic Research Articles

Capitalism as religion: From Max Weber to Giorgio Agamben through Walter Benjamin

The article, based on the work “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” explores the concept of «capitalism» by Max Weber, as well as a critique of capitalism itself based on the texts of Walter Benjamin and Giorgio Agamben. All three authors have different views on the nature of capitalism. If Weber is positive about capitalism, Benjamin and Weber see it as a danger. Weber approaches the issue from the point of view of Protestant practice, Benjamin and Agamben see capitalism as a parasite that uses Christian theology for its own useful purposes. Weber writes about the “spirit” of capitalism, Benjamin and Agamben write about capitalism as a form of religion. Weber wrote that «unbridled lust» is by no means identical with capitalism, much less its «spirit». Weber characterizes capitalism through such virtues as honesty, punctuality, diligence, moderation. Benjamin suggested that «Christianity during the Reformation did not contribute to the advent of capitalism, but was transformed into capitalism». He writes that capitalism is perhaps the most extreme of all religious cults, because it is based on a purely psychological connection to the object being fetishized. This cult, devoid of ideology or theology, exists solely through the continuous performance of its rituals — the purchase of goods and their consumption. Agamben asks very important question: “if capitalism is a religion, how do we interpret it in terms of faith? What does capitalism believe in?” He writes that capitalism is a religion based on faith. Capitalism is not simply the secularization of the Protestant faith. Agamben writes that capitalism is a religion where faith and credit replace God. Ever since money became a pure form of trust, capitalism has become a religion in which money is the God.

Ironic Egalitarianism: When hierarchy-attenuating motives increase hierarchy-enhancing beliefs

A growing number of businesses are focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts. Amidst this recent interest, scholars have sought to understand the ideologies that perpetuate inequality, concentrating primarily on the hierarchy-enhancing ideologies that antiegalitarians leverage to maintain inequality. However, we suggest that the hierarchy-enhancing beliefs typically associated with antiegalitarians (e.g., stereotypes, meritocracy) sometimes appeal to people at the opposite end of the ideological pole: egalitarians. Across four preregistered studies, we demonstrate that when hierarchy-enhancing myths may support practices aimed at promoting organizational diversity, egalitarians increasingly endorse these myths that they typically reject. When essentialism (Study 1), the Protestant work ethic (Study 2), and gender stereotypes (Study 4) supported organizational diversity, egalitarians increasingly endorsed these beliefs. They also exhibited scientific skepticism when findings jeopardized affirmative action efforts (Study 3). These findings illustrate that, ironically, pro-diversity goals can encourage egalitarians to mobilize and endorse beliefs that are typically associated with antiegalitarians and the justification of inequality.

Uncovering men’s stereotype content (warmth and competence) associated with a representative range of male body size categories

Research indicates that 40 % of men experience weight-related stigmatization. Yet perceptions of body size continue to be understudied in men and the stereotype content of men’s weight status remains largely unknown. Grounded in Stereotype Content Model, the research aims to uncover men’s stereotype content associated with distinct body sizes. A pilot study tested the methodological design using a representative measure of BMI-specific images among a sample of undergraduate men (N = 80). Study 1 included the BMI-specific images to assess stereotype content among a broad online sample (N = 142) and explored how participant BMI relates to such perceptions. Study 2 included images of real men to increase the ecological validity of our findings (N = 152). We also included empathy and protestant ethics to examine possible interaction effects. Results revealed that normal to overweight men scored highest on warmth and competence, while underweight and obese classes were perceived less favorably and, evidently, stereotype perceptions were increasingly severe with adiposity. Empathy moderated evaluations of warmth toward stigmatized groups, and protestant ethics moderated warmth appraisals for underweight and normal weight targets but did not influence perceptions of competence. Overall, weight stereotype content should be considered when understanding stigma-related experiences in men.

Notas sobre o conceito de afinidades eletivas e sua articulação com processo de racionalização na obra de Max Weber

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar algumas reflexões sobre a concepção de “afinidades eletivas” e quais seu possível papel na sistematização do processo de racionalização na obra de Max Weber. Trata-se de compreender, em que medida o conceito de afinidades eletivas apresentaria possibilidades analíticas para o esclarecimento do tipo particular de relação, entre as orientações de condutas de vida do protestantismo acético e as formas de organização econômica capitalista, que teria caracterizado o tipo especifico de racionalidade no Ocidente. O estudo tem como foco principal os escritos de Weber sobre a sociologia das religiões, em particular na segunda versão da Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (Ética protestante e espírito do capitalismo) – presente em Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssociologie – (Ensaios reunidos de sociologia da religião) e no estudo - Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen (Ética Econômica das religiões mundiais).

Protecting the Health of Future Generations as a Global Bioethical Principle: A Broad Protestant Perspective.

In the development of the Universal Declarations of Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) of UNESCO, the Protestant tradition did not participate in the conversation. This treatise is a humble contribution. The global community is convinced that the present generation can have a positive and negative impact on future generations. Article 16 of the UDBHR expresses serious concern about the negative impact of technology in the context of the human, animal and plant genome in particular, as well as the environment in general. The Protestant concept of the covenant provides a solid theological grounding for article 16 of the UDBHR. In light of this reasoning, article 16 of the UDBHR, which has the purpose of promoting the health of future generations, can fully be defended by Protestant ethics and included in the prophetic message of the Protestant faith tradition.

The Prosperity Gospel: Debating Modernity in Africa and the African Diaspora

Abstract Debates over the role of Pentecostalism in effecting modernity through its widespread “prosperity gospel” remain inconclusive. Though Weber's Protestant Ethic has been persistently invoked, sociological analyses reveal that the prosperity gospel challenges dominant Weberian conceptualizations of modernity. On one hand, the doctrine refutes Weber's central claim of modern societies by its pervasive “enchantment.” On the other hand, the prosperity gospel shares modern traits of human autonomy and entrepreneurship. Does the prosperity gospel demonstrate simultaneously modern and antimodern themes? Using cases from Africa and the African diaspora, this essay critically reviews how modernity has functioned as a complicated category for analyses of the prosperity gospel and for Pentecostalism. Showing that modernity is mediated irreducibly by the historical and cultural backgrounds of the society it encounters, the essay argues for the potency of the “multiple modernities” paradigm as an analytical framework that better captures realities of Africana contexts, notably Pentecostalism and the prosperity gospel.

ГЕНИЙ И МОНСТР "В ДОМЕ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ": РЕПУТАЦИЯ ДОСТОЕВСКОГО В БРИТАНИИ

Dostoevsky was perceived in Britain as the most unusual and incomprehensible of Russian writers, a prophet, a sage who discovered the truths of life, the depths of human psychology, a preacher of suffering, madman and monster, but not a novelist in the conventional sense. His going beyond aesthetic and social national standards helped British writers in their aesthetic quest and scared them. His novels seemed shapeless, «fluid puddings» (H. James), dangerous to the norms of the British prose. His ethical standards, based on the ethics of Orthodoxy, opposed English culture, which focused mainly on Protestant ethics - action, individualism, pursuit of well-being, happiness. The author of the article analyzes the perception of Dostoevsky by O. Wilde, R. Stevenson, G.K. Chesterton, A. Bennett, by modernists - V. Woolf, E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence. T.S. Eliot, W. Lewis, D.M. Murry, as well as W. Somerset Maugham and M. Bradbury. Despite the ambivalent attitude towards him, Dostoevsky entered the British pantheon of foreign literature, although not without a sqeak.

Supplemental Material for A Machine Learning Model of Cultural Change: Role of Prosociality, Political Attitudes, and Protestant Work Ethic

Supplemental Material for A Machine Learning Model of Cultural Change: Role of Prosociality, Political Attitudes, and Protestant Work Ethic

КОМПЛЕМЕНТАРНЫЕ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ ИНСТИТУТЫ И ИДЕОЛОГИИ: ЕСТЬ ЛИ СВЯЗЬ?

Since the publication of Max Weber’s “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” in 1904, the author’s idea about the positive relationship between Protestantism and capitalism has taken root in social sciences. Even though since then, multiple authors have questioned Weber’s idea, it still remains popular. Douglass C. North’s theory of institutions is interesting in this respect. He pointed to the intentionality behind the emergence of institutions. For North, institutions are an attempt to reduce the uncertainty by providing a structure to our everyday life, including interactions. The forms of these interactions depend not only on the climatic, demographic, technological and other factors, but also on people’s ethical attitudes. In our study, we proceed from the assumption that there is a relationship between institutions and ideologies in the broad sense of the term, on the one hand, and, on the other, from the concept of complementary institutions. The latter implies the presence in the institutional environ- ment of two or more complementary institutions. Complementary institutions determine the structure of contractual relations between agents pursuing simple tasks, which means that there are various systems of stimuli and principles of how these agents should deliver on their obligations. In this respect the question arises as to how such institutional complementarity fit into the ideologies prevailing in this or that society? Is it possible for complementary institutions to coexist? In this study we focus on two cases from Chinese history to show that institutional complementarity is possible only if the adherents to the dominant ideology are ready to accept the possibility of flexible interpretations of such ideology and of the existence of complementary ideologies. The first example is the popularity of Taoism as a complementary ideology of Confucianism among the merchants in Qing China. Since Confucianism could not create the necessary ethical incentives for those people who were engaged in trade, Taoism filled the ethical void with its magical practices. The second case relates to the era of the Han Dynasty and the dispute about the limits of the state’s influence on the economy between the representatives of different philosophical schools. In both examples, complementary ideology creates necessary incentives for building complementary institutions.

What do Social Scientists Do in a “Value Polytheism” Situation?; Or, A Little More on Weber’s “Vocation”

The purpose of the present paper consists of two points. First, it is to show how the internal structure and the “inner logic” of science as a value sphere are formed in Max Weber’s theory. Then, relying on logical-methodological foundations proposed by Weber, the second point is to identify how the action carried out by scientists in a “vocation” mode in a situation of “value polytheism” is realized within science. Analyzing the content of recent discussions about the empirical validity and character of Weber’s argumentation in one of his central works, The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism, as well as about the autonomy and conceptual boundaries of Weber’s science, we draw a line of reasoning as follows. Firstly, we trace the changing of the methodological role of values in general, and the value of truth, in particular, in the “sciences of culture” in connection with the transition from the transcendental solution of Heinrich Rickert to Weber’s “value polytheism”. Secondly, we analyze how the relationship between Weber’s science, progress, and rationalization is structured. Thirdly, we explicate the mode of “vocation” in science, relying on the logical-methodological foundations proposed by Weber. Fourthly, we identify the development of Weber’s idea of the value autonomy of science. It is shown that Weber rejects the criterion of truth’s universality proposed by Rickert’s logical solution. However, the construction of ideal-typical concepts and the mechanics of “cognitive interest” described by Weber allows scientists to separate extra-scientific pragmatics from the scientific research itself. The progress of the “sciences of culture” for Weber is the differentiation and the emergence of new research approaches and the refinement of concepts. At the same time, science is not teleologically connected with “progress in general” and the rationalizing world, the configuration of which is a specific historical constellation. As associated with scientific work, “gaining the clarity” turns out to be not its own goal, but a possible effect of using scientific knowledge. The mode of “vocation” in a “value polytheism” situation forces scientists to contribute to the endless scientific progress; they formulate such ideal-types and causal explanations that seem adequate and sufficient from the point of view of their cognitive interests. The stability of science’s boundaries and its value autonomy are formed in Weber’s theory gradually; epistemological studies and the implementation of his sociology of the religion research “programme” make the difference between vocations in science and politics clear.

Protestant Ethics and Max Weber Today

Protestant Ethics and Max Weber Today

The Paradox of Dutch Sustainability

Sustainability in the Netherlands embodies an enormous paradox. On the one hand, the Netherlands has an international reputation as an environmentally friendly country, while on the other hand, the country perpetuates fossil fuel capitalism. This research uses a discourse analysis to draw up the context of this paradox. It expands upon the notion of Dutch sustainability, using the concept of ecological modernization and a critique on the Protestant ethic. Second, the history of land reclamation in the Netherlands is framed in the context of sacrifice zones, relating it to the contemporary practice of sea level rise adaptation and flood prevention on a global scale. This contextual approach begins to explain why this paradox of sustainability exists, and why Dutch sustainability currently does not include a notion of environmental justice.

Метафизика труда в русской культуре: часть вторая

This paper is a continuation of a large study in two parts on the metaphysics of labor in Russian culture, literature and philosophy. In the second part of the work, the team of authors, continuing to consider the phenomenon of labor in synchronism and diachrony, addresses а person and its attitude towards work in a postmodern society. The phenomenon of labor is analyzed in close connection with economic, moral, axiological spheres of life of the modern man. One of the main issues in a current situation of globalism is the issue of relationship between categories of “labor” and “leisure”. Can civilization be built on a foundation of leisure and not labor? Global transformation of the axiological status of labor has occurred in the culture of modern society. This process has got not only economic metrics associated with production and consumption, but also affects an axiological layer of culture associated with existential experiences of the individual. Man does not just work to satisfy his physical needs; the teleology of labor is always important, which implies answers to the questions: “For what does a person work?” and “For what is he ready to spend his free time of his life?” In a postindustrial, networked, consumer society, principles of the global Protestant work ethic, which constituted the foundation of capitalist civilization, no longer work. The study involved analytical, historical, descriptive and systematic methods of analysis.

The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work by Cara New Daggett (review).

Reviewed by: The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work by Cara New Daggett Francesco Gerali (bio) The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work By Cara New Daggett. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Pp. 280. The Birth of Energy is a well-structured book that frames energy humanities, British colonialism, and environmental history within the field of cultural studies. This work is a resource for the social history of technology in the United Kingdom of the Victorian era, and a contribution to energy and environmental studies. The author's cross-disciplinary approach aims to spark new avenues of interpretation and discussion of today's energy consumption, conservation, waste, and inequality. The book focuses on the mark given to the human habitat by the dominating "culture of labor" rooted in the mantra of the need for perpetually increasing productivity, and on the epistemological and physical origin of the concept of energy in the nineteenth-century United Kingdom, revisiting the history of thermodynamics. In doing this, Cara New Daggett attempts to explain how the Western perception of force, growing in dominance in the nineteenth-century, shaped the idea of work, human-machine interdependency, and energy utilization—and changed the course of human and environmental conditions. In her book, Daggett engages the reader with her analysis of the links between the mechanics of steam technology, Protestant culture, politics, and industrialization, eventually showing how these forces contributed to expansionist goals. The book develops in two parts. Part I is composed of four chapters on early studies and interpretations of energy, the understanding of the potential of the steam engine, and the role of the Protestant work ethic. Within this framework, the governing elites utilized the mass exploitation of fossil fuels and the rise of a "wage-labor" working class to create a so-called unequivocal avenue to the (supposed) wealth of the masses to the glory of capitalist society. [End Page 1287] A Protestant vision of labor and commitment to thrift implies that the optimization of energy input must correspond to a more efficient labor output. Thermodynamics showed how energy transformation—for example, energy chemically stored in coal and transformed into heat to yield vapor—unavoidably leads to energy leakage. In light of this, and in pursuit of efficiency in production and utilization, the Western governing elites needed to increase labor efficiency in order to increase profit. The waste of energy in any form was seen as an improper way to utilize resources to produce force—and as a despicable enemy of the binomial efficiency/profit. Part II explores thermodynamics as discipline used by imperialism to strengthen its position in the colonies. The class bias and assumption of Western white supremacy were supported by the discipline's view of energy and labor. This energy-labor pairing was instrumental in reinforcing the concept that the principles of the Protestant church could be applied to labor and energy production to evangelize to and convert so-called lazy and unproductive native populations. According to Western thought in the nineteenth-century, white Europeans had reached a higher level of civilization than other races thanks to their superior work ethic. Following this narrow view, the lower productivity of indigenous Africans and Native American was derived from their backward agricultural and manufacturing technologies, idleness, and lack of motivation. Because commitment and productivity were reflective of "higher" human virtues, the white colonizer's mission was to inculcate the thermodynamic interpretation of energy and work to native populations. Daggett presents evidence of the fierce opposition of native populations: their divergent views about work and productivity clashed with the Western model. Imposition led to attempts at evasion on the part of the colonized people, reinforcing the idea of the energy superiority of the colonizers. The book critically analyzes the making of the modern idea of energy—for example, the scheme production/consumption of petroleum, gas, and coal—in the early nineteenth century, the political misuse of the laws of physics, the export of the Western model of work to the colonies, and their repercussions on the ecological equilibrium. She seeks to rework some of the already criticized and partly dismantled theses of Weber by...

COLONIALISM AND CAPITALIST IDEOLOGY IN ROBINSON CRUSOE

This paper will aim to analyse the ways in which Robinson Crusoe corresponds with the ideology of early colonial capitalism which was burgeoning in Defoe’s time, and of which he was a great proponent. Arguably, the novel presents the worldview of the flourishing capitalist class to which Defoe belonged, especially concerning the matters of trade, entrepreneurship, and colonial rule. This is particularly present in Crusoe’s actions upon becoming shipwrecked, which embody the Protestant ethics of hard work, and also in the way he observes the island as his colonial dominion and Friday as his natural servant. The paper will seek to describe how the novel illustrates the economic background which leads to colonialism, and how the two give rise to a particular ideology which was present not just in Defoe’s time, but in various shapes survives until today. For that purpose, the paper will rely on the way in which Terry Eagleton views and defines ideology, in the hope of giving an insight into the interplay of material conditions and ideology in the novel.

Subjectivity as a cultural form of social reality. On the philosophical- theoretical potential of Max Weber’s interpretation of modernity

The paper shows the philosophical content of Max Weber’s contribution to a theory of modernity. Weber adopts the deepest questions of the classical philosophical tradition, adding important dimensions and differentiations to them. The specific nature of modern subjectivity is the achievement of a cultural becoming, and it is far more complex than all contemporary interpretations that consider the modern era to be at its end. — (I) Firstly, we will interpret the well-known (and influential) text The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus, 1904/05), with a special focus on its philosophical-theoretical thoughtelements. That which Weber refers to here philosophically as the “Spirit” of a way of life and of its social forms encompasses the whole of a cultural transformation: a fundamental change in the concept of action, in the conception of the acting subject, in the horizon of the space of action (“world”), and in the understanding of sociality. In this new structure of individuality, subjectivity is connected with “objectiveness” [Sachlichkeit], of all things. Notwithstanding, the essence of all of these fundamental changes cannot be characterized solely through (modern) rationality and rationalization, but is fixed on people equipped with a specific habitual ethos. — (II) In the second part, we aim to develop Weber’s idea further on a general level, from the point of view of present-day debates on subjectivity. To this end, we will discern four systematically decisive issues: (1) One component of modern subjectivity is the “inner” social relatedness; there is always an internal forum where the affiliation to a “we” is confirmed and acknowledged (or rejected). (2) Weber saw the significance of the psychologization of the self (and of others) — of the different cultural images, concepts and explanations of subjectivity. (3) From this perspective, subjectivity (both in thought and in practice) is essentially the history of its interpretations — a process of many legacies and their transformation. (4) Existing social forms are above all sedimented “Spirit”, in connection with impositions of participation and conformity (and of “formation” [Bildung]); the established social reality itself generates specific cultural profiles of subjectivity.

막스 베버의 ‘프로테스탄트 윤리와 자본주의 정신’에 숨겨진 뜻으로서 ‘정치교육’

막스 베버의 ‘프로테스탄트 윤리와 자본주의 정신’에 숨겨진 뜻으로서 ‘정치교육’

Neither laziness nor workaholism: The Protestant ethic and economic prosperity among young urban Christians in contemporary China

Focused on the religious and economic practices of young Chinese Christian in Beijing, this article examines how Chinese Christians confront and resolve the post-socialist challenges in relation to hard-work culture, economic prosperity, and the neoliberal ethic of self-development. Young Chinese Christians in Beijing internalize the idea of a God-centered life as their life motto. This new outlook on life leads them to criticize the prevalence of workaholism, materialism, and success-seeking lifestyles, which they believe threatens Christian belief. At the same time, they develop an alternative view of work and wealth, which encourages them to glorify the Christian God through secular economic acts. As such, they reconfigure the logic of work, success, and prosperity through their own understandings of Christian faith. This article shows how Protestant Christianity provides opportunities for Christian believers to create new narratives and agential possibilities to negotiate their faiths and secular economic activities.

Melatonin for the American Dream: The Meritocracy and Popularized Sport

Sport and the meritocracy has had close ties since the professionalization of sport here in the United States. This tie has been observed through various lenses; such as the American Exceptionalism, rise of the Protestant Ethic, industrialization and many more. However, in recent years the United States has shifted largely into a more polarized nation between social equity and government interference. Today, we see riots and debates in regards to feminism, sexuality and racism; all shedding light to the myth of meritocracy. These fights can be seen just as vividly on the streets as we can see it in professional sport; with the NBA wearing Black Lives Matter jerseys, the US Women’s National Team taking organizations to court and sports casters inevitably commenting on various social issues. So then, has the idea of meritocracy through sport survived all of this? If so, why does it still linger in the minds of the American people? I see that the political nature of sport, use of mass media and the educational system allows the meritocracy to form, objectify and get further rooted in the sports culture here in the US everyday.

The work ethic of medieval Muslim Ahi brotherhood: A comparison with Catholic and Puritan work ethics

This paper compares and analyzes the Catholic Social Teaching, Puritan work ethic and Islamic ethic of medieval Muslim Ahi Brotherhood of Anatolia in terms of business ethics. A high level of similarity can be found between Catholic social teaching (CST) and a branch of the Islamic work ethic of Ahi movement. Islamic Ahi work ethic has also significant similarities with the historical Protestant work ethic. This similarity reveals the opportunity to cooperate and to foster a more humanitarian workplace, particularly in multi-cultural organizations both for Christians and Muslims. We can argue that many ethical problems arise in organizations as a result of a violation of ethical values and virtues. Corruption, sexual harassment, mobbing, nepotism, are direct results of the lack of such virtues. Therefore, it is possible to merge Catholic, Protestant and Islamic values to create a more humane workplace.