TAKE HOME EXAM 2

Weber (I) Power, Meaning Rationalization, Capitalism and the Protestant Ethic Meyer Kestnbaum, Sociology 203

Overview

I. Recalling Durkheim II. How do our prior readings in social theory prepare the way for Weber, and

how does he engage those earlier efforts? III. The Protestant Ethic as a point of departure IV. What is capitalism? V. How can we explain the origins of capitalism?

Terms and concepts

Meaning

Power

rationalization/rational conduct

Modern western capitalism

Ideas

The Protestant Ethic

Capitalist adventurers

Capitalist enterprise

Formally free labor

Sober bourgeois capitalism

The Spirit of capitalism

Ben Franklin

Calling

VII. Diagnosis of society I. Diagnosing present ills of modern society

A. D looks out at world he lives in an identifies a “poverty of morality” 1. =A maladjustment in moral terms

B. How do people experience it? What’s going on? 1. Pervasive malaise (feeling of discomfort, unease), restlessness? (see p. 323) 2. As social relationships have developed,

a) Poorness of fit between those rels and collective representations b) Disappearance of relevant groups of which people a part, that create such repres.

C. How is this related to egoistic suicide and anomic suicide? D. What can be done?

1. Partly it is due to a series of changes in intermediary groups 2. “For most lives, nothing draws them out of themselves and imposes restraints on them”

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Weber

II. Weber as a theorist

I. What distinguishes Weber as a theorist (1864-1920) A. His work combines enormous range and erudition with a constant striving for analytic rigor

1. How can we see this in what we’ve read so far? 2. What’s going on with all those analytic distinctions?

B. He always resisted any attempt to put all of this work into a neat system or reduce it to a single formula or set of simple formulae

C. Nonetheless, we can see an overall pattern and coherence to it, guided by a distinctive theoretical approach and bound together by certain persistent concerns or themes

II. Weber as theorist

I. Three themes run throughout much of Weber’s work, incl Protestant Ethic A. Emergence and nature of modern western capitalism

1. Capitalistic activity has appeared in disconnected/peripheral ways in other civilz’s/periods 2. Only in the modern West did capitalism come to dominate the whole of economic life and in

this way put its stamp on an entire civilization (mw.cap. ec→ effects on civilization as whole) B. Rationalization

1. What strikes Weber about capitalism is how it intensifies the rational character of ec. activity 2. And the development of capitalism is only one (and the latest) aspect of a broader tendency

toward the rationalization of life that has marked the course of Western civilization 3. Rationalization is one of the most crucial concepts in Weber--full of paradoxes, difficult to

define--but provisionally: a) Defined w/r conscious. continuous and systematic effort directed toward a set of ends b) Highlights the action of actor, way she or he attends to fitting means and ends

II. Weber as theorist I. Three themes run throughout much of Weber’s work (continued)

A. The role of ideas in society 1. Weber wants to understand the historical relationship between systems of ideas (particularly

but not only religious ones) and collective action (or the action of groups) 2. He attempts to avoid both a simple idealism and a simple materialism, either where ideas

necessarily shape social existence (rendering all else secondary), or alternatively, could be reduced to expressions of material life

3. Instead, he develops an approach based on understanding the specific ways (i.) ideas, (ii.) interests and (iii.) ways of life of groups of people fit together

4. Key to this relationship: systems of ideas held by people can actually help define the interests which they feel driven to pursue a) How? by elaborating a particular definition of reality and of the meaning of the world

II. → Q: how do these 3 let us see the way Weber and other theorists are in dialogue?

II. Weber as theorist

I. We can make a first pass at Weber’s engagement by focusing on the three themes A. Capitalism and modern western capitalism-- Smith, Marx B. Rationalization--perhaps Smith, Marx insofar as pursue material self-interest C. The role of ideas--Tocqueville (mores), Durkheim (cc or collective representations)

II. Weber as theorist

I. We can enrich this sense of dialogue, and deepen our understanding of Weber, by taking the next step: to highlight two central concerns that cut through Weber’s treatment of these three themes A. Overarching concern #1 : How people find meaning in the world

1. Rooted in Weber’s understanding of human nature as meaning-finding and meaning-making B. Overarching concern #2 : Power and domination

1. The prevalence of power and domination in many if not all spheres of social life; the particular logic of domination in politics and with respect to the state

II. → Q: What connections can we draw? 1. How do other theorists we’ve read pick up on these concerns with meaning and domination? 2. From what we can surmise, how might meaning and domination potentially be linked to

capitalism, rationalization and the role of ideas?

III. The Protestant Ethic as our starting point I. The Protestant Ethic

A. As a work, it does not sum up all of Weber’s approach or cover all of his theoretical interests; and by his own characterization, it is partial and exploratory

B. But it treats many of his interests in extended fashion--and deals with all three central themes in his work

C. How can we see capitalism, rationalization and ideas coming together in his work? 1. Key: Weber identifies that capitalism as an economic system has a cultural core, 2. And further, he argues that religion (Calvinist Protestantism) has a role in defining and making

up that core D. This is our preview--but to dig into his analysis, we must specify how Weber understands capitalism

and differences among different types of capitalistic activity

IV. Capitalism for Weber I. What is capitalism? See in his long introduction to the Protestant Ethic

A. “Most fateful force in modern life” (17) B. Is it all about endless gain?

1. No, capitalism is not about unlimited greed for gain; and even more importantly, this does not capture the spirit of capitalism, or what we might call its cultural core

2. For Weber, capitalism = rational tempering of the irrational impulse of greed for gain (who does this sound like? Think the morbid desire for the infinite…)

C. Capitalism is defined in terms of (i.) pursuit of profit, (ii.) forever renewed, (iii.) by means of continuous, rationalistic enterprise 1. Think about these parts and what they say (why renewed? why enterprise? why

continuous, rationalistic? ) D. Properly capitalistic activity rests on expectation of profit through exchange, not force

1. Where does that expectation come from? What’s ‘rationalistic’ here? Why not force?

IV. Capitalism for Weber

I. Historical sweep and historical distinctiveness of modern western capitalism A. Weber identifies a long history of merchants, traders who engage in capitalistic adventurism -- types

of trade, loans, financing of wars, piracy, contracting, tax farming, filling administrative offices, or overseas as colonial entrepreneurs, planters holding slaves 1. Activities of irrational nature, because either speculative or directed to acquisition by force, incl

continuous fiscal “booty” of exploiting subjects in an empire 2. Persists, and saw in early 20th c.: the capitalism of promoters, large-scale speculators, much

financial capitalism even in peace, and especially that concerned with exploiting wars B. But in the modern West, there has developed a kind of capitalism very different from this and which

has appeared nowhere else: the rational capitalistic organization of formally free labor 1. Form of organization, attuned to the market (selling on market, buying from others in market) 2. Rational as constantly and continuously attempt to calculate and adjust incomes v. expenses 3. Such exact calculation/continuous pursuit of profit ONLY possible with formally free labor

IV. Capitalism for Weber

I. Modern Western capitalism A. Having distinguished it analytically, Weber gives it a more colloquial name, that is quite

telling: “sober bourgeois capitalism” B. Can simplify as a form of activity in an inst. setting (expectation of profit through exchange

on market) situated in particular types of organization (going beyond the relationship of owner and laborer, although that is part of it) that he calls capitalistic enterprise

C. Also notes two additional features necessary to have independent business enterprises 1. Legal and practical separation of the business from the household, based on the

separation of personal property from corporate property 2. Rational bookkeeping, keeping of accounts, central to calculation

D. → THE HUGE PUZZLE that forms the first ⅞ of the Protestant Ethic: How can we explain the ORIGINS of this distinctive, “sober bourgeois capitalism”?

V. Explaining modern Western capitalism

I. Sets out to explain this distinctive variety of capitalism that emerges in the West A. Influenced by rational structures of law, administration, science--since it requires these to operate--

and influenced by Occidental rationalism more broadly 1. Must have a calculable legal system, administration in terms of formal rules

B. Interests in pursuit of profit & other economic concerns may play a role--but not the primary one C. Key for Weber: we need to look at the peculiar rationalism of Western culture

1. What’s important about it? The way it shapes the ability AND disposition to adopt certain kinds of rational conduct--that is, here, the continuous effort to adjust expenses to revenues

D. We need to appreciate what Weber is doing here in terms of 1. How economic conditions and structures may shape culture 2. But also how culture may shape economic activity

E. → Weber’s particular approach: focus on organization of ec. enterprise and activity undertaken by it; and the culture (what he calls spirit) that underpins this kind of activity, in rel. to culture broadly

V. Explaining modern Western capitalism

I. What is the source of modern Western capitalism for Weber? A. W argues that the key to understanding the origins of sober bourgeois capitalism is to

understand the source of the peculiar economic rationalism on which it’s built--that is, the key is to understand capitalism’s spirit and to find its source--

B. Okay, so we don’t lose the thread: What does Weber mean by the spirit of capitalism? 1. To this point, we can think of it as the constant and continuous effort to adjust

expenses to revenues in pursuit of profit C. → THE CRITICAL QUESTION, for Weber: Where do we find the source of that spirit of

capitalism?

V. Explaining Modern Western Capitalism

I. Where do we find the source? A. In another distinctly rationalistic part of Western culture, but one that has particular power

over people: 1. Religious forces--ethical ideas of duty-- that influence conduct in the world

B. → One way to capture Protestant Ethic, then: Weber searches for the origin of economic rationalism in the character of religious beliefs

C. Or to say it somewhat differently, W is looking for the source of the spirit of capitalism in particular religious beliefs, notably, the Protestant ethic 1. Hence the title of the work...

V. Explaining the origins of mod W capitalism

I. Exploring how religious beliefs gave rise to economic rationalism A. To make this case, W begins with the geographic distributions of capitalist acumen and

religion 1. Finds that business astuteness and religious piety go together, historically

B. To explain this relationship, however, need to delve further two directions 1. Into the Spirit of capitalism--Ben Franklin -- duty to be industrious, save and re-invest

(not enjoy) 2. Protestant ethic -- the notion of the calling

a) Working in the service of God b) In a specific way

Some of Franklin’s aphorisms

I. About effort and industry A. A stitch in time saves nine B. Haste makes waste C. Little strokes fell big oaks D. Have something to do tomorrow, do it today E. The way to be safe is never to be secure

II. About money and business specifically A. A penny saved is a penny earned B. Beware of little expenses: little leaks sink big ships C. Industry pays debts while despair increases them D. Industry gives comfort, plenty and respect