The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Edition 1

by Max Weber

Overview

First published in 1905, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is one of the most renowned and controversial works of modern social science. It is a brilliant book that studies the psychological conditions which made possible the development of capitalist civilisation. The book analyses the connection between the spread of Calvinism and a new attitude towards the pursuit of wealth in post-Reformation Europe and England, and attitude which permitted, encouraged – even sanctified – the human quest for prosperity.

This new edition has been translated and introduced by internationally acclaimed Weberian scholar Stephen Kalberg. With a precise and nuanced rendering of Weber's style and arguments, Kalberg clarifies the various twists and turns of Weber's complex lines of reasoning. Kalberg's introduction examines the controversy surrounding the book and summarizes major aspects of Weber's analysis. A glossary of major terms is included to make this the clearest, most readable edition of this classic text yet available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780631230816
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/21/2002
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Max Weber (1864-1920) was a key figure in the development of the social sciences and wrote many works in the fields of sociology, politics, economics and law. In the course of his career he taught at the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg and Munich.

Stephen Kalberg is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. He is the co-chair of the German Study Group at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University, and the author of Max Weber's Comparative-Historical Sociology (Polity Press, 1994).

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Translation:Stephen Kalberg.

Introduction to The Protestant Ethic:Stephen Kalberg.

Glossary.

Part I: The Problem:.

1. Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification.

2. The Spirit of Capitalism.

3. Luther's Conception of the Calling.

Task of the Investigation.

Part II: The Vocational Ethic of Ascetic Protestantism:.

4. The Religious Foundations of This-Worldly Asceticism.

Calvinism.

Pietism.

Methodism.

The Baptizing Sects and Churches.

5. Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism.

The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism: Trans. Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills.

"Prefatory Remarks" to Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion (1920).

Notes for The Protestant Ethic.

Notes for The Protestant Sects.

Notes for Prefatory Remarks.

Name Index.

Subject Index.

Editorial Reviews

Max Weber is the one undisputed canonical figure in contemporary sociology.

Times Higher Education Supplement

Arguing that classic works should be translated every generation, and that the essay here was last translated into English some 70 years ago, Kalberg (sociology, Boston U.) strives to make the text accessible to undergraduates and general readers and to retain the integrity of the work with a close-to-the-text translation. In addition to the essay itself, which was published in a two parts in a social science journal in 1904-05, he has included two related documents by Weber (1864-1920). Cited in . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Sociologists interested in Max Weber can count themselves fortunate these days with the recent appearance of the second revised edition of Stephen Kalberg's new translation of Weber's work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. . . . Those teaching upper division undergraduate and graduate courses in social theory or the sociology of religion will find this volume an ideal introduction to Weber's work and to the continuing controversies surrounding his famous thesis. At $14.95 in paper-bound edition, it is more than worth the price."— Donald A. Nielsen, State University of New York Oneota

From the Publisher