Calvinism, Capitalism, and the Middle Classes: Some Afterthoughts on an Old Problem

Burrell, Sidney A.

doi:10.1086/238463

Cited by 5 publications

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“…The main criticism of the Weber thesis has been disputing this historical sequence and causation from Protestantism to capitalism on the basis that the latter, as especially found in pre-Reformation Italy, has historically predated and thus, alongside other economic and political institutions, shaped (Ekelund et al, 2002;also, Alexander, 1998, Cohen, 1980Smelser, 1997;Zaret, 1985) the former rather than (only) the other way round. However, this article does not follow this conventional line of criticism and instead opens a potentially new venue that is rarely present in the sociological literature, although included in historical and related studies (Burrell, 1960;Clark, 1951;Hudson, 1949Hudson, , 1961Means, 1965;Walzer, 1963). It leaves the Weber thesis intact in its original version as well as its subsequent Parsonian and other reformulations, assuming a historical sequence and causation (Friedman, 2011) from Calvinism to capitalism.…”

Section: From 16th Century Protestantism To 19th Century Capitalismmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The next criticism is that Calvinism is related to capitalism in an irregular fashion (Clark, 1951;Goldstone, 1986;Hudson, 1949Hudson, , 1961MacKinnon, 1990;Mitchell, 1914;Means, 1965;Sombart, 1928;Young, 2009) or a superficial covariation (Samuelsson, 1961), in the same way it is with liberal democracy (Dombrowski, 2001;Eisenstadt, 1965;Kaufman, 2008;Mueller, 2009;Walzer, 1963;Zaret, 1989). A further criticism is that Calvinism instead impedes capitalism and economic development, reproducing feudalism, notably feudal-style aristocracy, hierarchy, rigidity, inequality, and economic backwardness, as exemplified by Calvinist societies like Scotland, the US South, and others (Burrell, 1960;Clark, 1951;Heller, 1986;Hillmann, 2008;Hudson, 1949Hudson, , 1961Hyma, 1938;Kaufman, 2008;Means, 1965;Mitchell, 1914;Robertson, 1933;Stokes, 1975;De Vries, 1999;Walzer, 1963). An additional criticism is that the Weber thesis is an antithesis of Marxian economic determinism and thus an exercise in idealism, expressing a petite bourgeois ideology (Grossman, 2006;also, Burrell, 1960;Cohen, 1980;Collins, 1980;Cox, 1974;Hudson, 1961;Parsons, 24 1938Parsons, 24 , 1947Pellicani, 1988;…”

Section: The Weber Thesis After Webermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, Scotland becomes during the late 16th and early 17th century the purest and fullest Calvinist country (Gorski, 2000;Hillmann, 2008;Howe, 1972;Mullan, 1995) ruled by Presbyterianism and remains so by the 18th and 19th centuries, yet remaining the most backward (Burrell, 1960;Hudson, 1961;Hyma, 1938;Robertson, 1933) pre-or quasi-capitalist (Forcese, 1968;Means, 1965) and primitive society in Western Europe. This is what Scotland's most illustrious economist, Adam Smith (Marshall, 62 1982), raised Presbyterian turned Enlightenment-style deist, deplores.…”

Section: The Secret French Connection From Calvin's France To Calvinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the aggregate, in all these instances the emergence and expansion of modern industrial capitalism, first, corresponds to the implosion, not the eruption, of Calvinism, as in France, Holland, England, and America. Second, it is negatively related to Calvinism, as in Presbyterian Scotland and Prussia until the 19th century (Burrell, 1960) and in part, as in Weber's account, in Calvinist Holland, then the US neo-Puritan Bible Belt and similar 'hillbilly' regions, and in some other societies, for example Hungary and South Africa 71 (Hudson, 1961;Stokes, 1975;Du Toit, 1985). Third, modern capitalism is substantially unrelated to, and specifically unaffected by, Calvinism, as in Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, and more recently Ireland.…”

Section: The Secret French Connection From Calvin's France To Calvinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neglected gap in the Weber thesis? The long economic lag of capitalism from Protestantism

Zafirovski

2019

Social Science Information

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This article identifies and explains a certain previously undetected or downplayed analytical problem in Max Weber's thesis arising from a causal link between Protestantism, above all Calvinism, and the emergence and expansion of modern capitalism as an economic 'spirit' and system. There is a manifest time gap or historical distance between original Calvinism and modern capitalism spanning several centuries. More specifically, there is an 'economic lag' of modern capitalism, defined by the Weber thesis as emerging and expanding mostly during the late 18th and 19th centuries, orthodox Calvinism and generally the Protestant Reformation arising and spreading in the 16th century. This article investigates whether such a capitalist lag behind its assumed religious source is exceedingly protracted to posit an effective causal relationship, a plausible congruence and an affinity between Calvinism and modern capitalism as the Weber thesis does. This article identifies two different religious-economic configurations: first, the rise and diffusion of Calvinism and the absence of capitalism, second, the emergence and expansion of modern capitalism and the decline of Calvinism. I infer that the salient economic lag of modern capitalism from Calvinism casts serious doubt on their direct causal link and thus on the Weber thesis, giving the fact that the assumption of lagged effects of the second on the first variable does not provide an adequate solution. This article aims to contribute toward a further clarification and examination of the Weber thesis and generally of the relationship between religious values and modern economy and society.

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Section: From 16th Century Protestantism To 19th Century Capitalismmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: The Weber Thesis After Webermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Secret French Connection From Calvin's France To Calvinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Secret French Connection From Calvin's France To Calvinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neglected gap in the Weber thesis? The long economic lag of capitalism from Protestantism

Zafirovski

2019

Social Science Information

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“…New roles and concomitant institutional frameworks evolved in the political sphere proper, giving rise to new types of active political participation and organizations, in Scotland, The Netherlands, and France, in the form of parties, community organizations, and public services (Burrell, 1960). New roles and concomitant institutional frameworks evolved in the political sphere proper, giving rise to new types of active political participation and organizations, in Scotland, The Netherlands, and France, in the form of parties, community organizations, and public services (Burrell, 1960).…”

Section: Post-reformation Protestantism and Counter-reformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of the West

Eisenstadt¹

1990

Cultural Dynamics

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A. The Origins of the West in Recent Macrosociological Theory I The origins of the West, of the modem world, the question why was it that the modern worldor rather the general trends to the development of a rational world order manifest in the capitalist civilization in the rise of the modem bureaucratic state and society -developed only in the West, have constituted the major concerns of sociological analysis in general, of comparative macrosociological analysis in particular from their very inception. It is therefore no surprise that they have been recently taken up in a series of researches which have signalled the revival of comparative macrosociological analysis. It is also no surprise that in these works the major controversies which have dominated the scholarly discussion on this problem -especially those between the Marxism and the Weberian interpretations of the origin of Capitalism -have become also revivedalbeit in more sophisticated ways, becoming also closely interwoven with those around major theoretical issues in sociological analysis. They became closely connected with the issues related to the relations between culture and social structure and in all of these works the evaluation of the Protestant ethic thesis has constituted a major and continuous focus of discussion. II

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The Weber Thesis of Calvinism and Capitalism-Its Various Versions and Their “Fate” in Social Science

Zafirovski

2015

J. Hist. Behav. Sci.

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The paper identifies and examines various multiple renditions of the so-called Weber Thesis of an historical association and convergence between ascetic Protestantism, above all Calvinism, and the emergence and development of modern capitalism as an economic spirit and system. Specifically, it detects at least four different versions and formulations or interpretations, thus casting doubt in the common view of the Weber Thesis as a single and monolithic theory or hypothesis. The paper also considers the status of the multiple versions of the Weber Thesis in post-Weberian and contemporary sociology and related disciplines like economics and history. It concludes that the weaker, relaxed renditions of the Weber Thesis have attained a greater success and more endured in contemporary social science than have its stronger, stricter versions.

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Calvinism, Capitalism, and the Middle Classes: Some Afterthoughts on an Old Problem

Cited by 5 publications

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A neglected gap in the Weber thesis? The long economic lag of capitalism from Protestantism

A neglected gap in the Weber thesis? The long economic lag of capitalism from Protestantism

Origins of the West

The Weber Thesis of Calvinism and Capitalism-Its Various Versions and Their “Fate” in Social Science

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