The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism Essay

The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism - Essay Example He relates religion and economy with each other in order to bring about capitalism in the West. He points out that ascetic Protestantism, which is seen in many nations in the West, emphasized on methodological and innovative religious rational behaviour. And this emphasis found its way into economic practices which set off secularization and the undermining of all types of religion. Weber’s analysis of capitalism and economics prompted him to study other major world religions in order to appraise their attitudes about the economy. Modern analysts point out how their studies of history during the early days of capitalism in the West have revealed the important role of religion, especially Protestantism in Capitalism. They cite Weber’s writings in the ‘Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ as an important source of information about capitalism in the 18th to the 19th century. In his writings, Weber proposed that capitalism flourished in Europe becaus e Protestantism is the religion that created a goal for the people, for them to limit their material consumption while still pursuing wealthy pursuits. Before capitalism made its way into Western society, there was a restraint on consumption which was invariably linked to asceticism and the condemnation of commercial pursuits. The dominant Catholic faith at that time labelled the pursuit of wealthy and economic enterprises as part of eventual profligate spending and consumerism (Calhoun & Gerteis, 2007, p. 1228).