Calvinism - Max Weber Flashcards
Intro
Weber argued the rise of calvinism in the 16th and 17th century essentially created capitalist society.
4 …
- predestination
- divine transcendence
- asceticism
- the idea of a vocation or a ‘calling’
- Predestination
God has predetermined which souls will be saved, and the individual can do nothing to change this. Only god can forgive sins. Individuals experienced ‘salvation anxiety’
What is salvation anxiety (predestination )
not knowing if heaven or hell awaited. so leads to individuals to commit to a life of working hard to get into heaven
- Divine Transcendence
God is so immortal and great that no human can claim to know his will (including priests) This paired with ‘predestination’ led to a concept called salvation panic. No one knew of they were going to heaven or hell
- Asceticism
- Abstinence, self discipline and self denial
- live a simple life as Jesus did
- led people to work hard, but not to favour luxuries
Abstinence meaning
restraining from something typically alcohol or sex
- The idea of a vocation or a ‘calling’
Previous to calvinism, the only ‘job’ that was dedicated to God could becoming a priest, monk etc. However, calvinism believed that any type of work could bring salvation eg a banker/farmer/teacher etc
Marx evaluation of Weber
- marxists argued that the process of capitalism had already began before calvinism there. contradicting Weber’s claim that Calvinism started capitalism
Other evaluation
- capitalism didn’t develop in every calvinist country - eg Scotland had a large calvinist population but was very slow to capitalism. suggests calvinism may not be the cause of capitalism
Tawney evaluation of Weber + calvinism
- Tawney argues it was mainly technological changes that caused capitalism, not religion. without technology, it would not have been possible
