The Capitalist Future: A Consequence Of Calvinist Annunciation Essay, Research Paper

The Capitalist Future: A Consequence of Calvinist Annunciation

Anukool Lakhina

ID 203, Lindholm

Question #3

October 10th, 1996

In his work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber

predicts that the future will be a world of “mechanized perfection” devoid of

“religious and ethical meaning.” In this world modern capitalism becomes a self

sustaining system no longer needing the Calvinist religious impetus that had

inspired the work ethic. Weber argues that the future will be a capitalistic

society, where the proletariat and the bourgeoisie alike, will not be driven by

religious motivation, but instead by a constant struggle to benefit from the

system. He reasons that this future of the capitalist society is a direct

consequence of the teachings of Calvinism. The Calvinist work ethic of ‘living

to work’ forms the core of modern capitalism. This ethic originated from the

Calvinist doctrine of predestination and the notion of a transcendental God.

Predestination decrees that God has already picked out who those “predestined

into everlasting life” (100) and those “foreordained to everlasting death”

(100). Calvinists also believe that God, a distant “grand conception” (164) who

is “beyond all human comprehension,” (164) is unreachable. Both these beliefs

together eliminated any possibility of appeasing God through service or

sacrifice. The answer to the question whether believers were the chosen or the

damned could thus neither be influenced nor known. If, however, one turned his

work into a ‘calling,’ restricting any desire to wasteful pleasure, he could

experience a feeling of assurance that he is indeed a member of the Elect.

Calvinism preached this ascetic ethic of hard work and complete absence of

frivolous waste of money and time. As a result, the work ethic of the

population shifted from ‘working to live’ to ‘living to work.’ Traditional

capitalism which relied on the “greedy maximization of profit in a one-shot

enterprise,” (14) became the rational modern capitalism, a continuous cycle

involving the constant “productive investment of capital.” (172) The Calvinist

teachings demanded honest dealings in business, steady production and sales, and

continuous savings and reinvestment which no doubt led to phenomenal business

growth and success. Weber illustrates in the following quote: “When the

limitation of consumption is combined with the release of acquisitive activity,

the inevitable practical result is obvious: accumulation of capital through

ascetic compulsion to save.” (172)

This “diligent and frugal” (175) attitude made people richer and

“material goods gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the

lives of men.” (181) The dependence on external goods went from the “light cloak

which can be thrown aside at any moment” (181) to a necessity, or as Weber puts

it, an “iron cage.” (181) The so called acetic lifestyle now led to an increased

dependence on materialism. This is unavoidable, since a religion such as

Calvinism which preaches “industry and frugality” (175) could not help but

produce riches. An increase in riches however, led to a “proportionate increase

in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the

pride of life.” (175) As a result, the ascetic ’see no evil, speak no evil, hear

no evil’ value lost its importance. In John Wesley’s words : “wherever riches

have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion.”

(175) In essence, the “form of [the Calvinist] religion remained” but the

“spiri t [continues to] swiftly vanish away.” (175) The Calvinist values have

now “faded into the self absorbed luxury of the wealthy.” (19) Calvinism had

become rationalized into a tradition and the original religious doctrines began

to die out. Weber illustrates this claim by using the United States as an

example:

“In the field of its highest development, in the United States, the pursuit of

wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become

associated with purely mundane passions.” (182)

While the “Puritans wanted to work in a calling, we are [now] forced to

do so.” (181) Calvinist-inspired asceticism had created “the tremendous cosmos

of the modern economic order” (181) which now “determines the lives of all the

individuals who are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned

with direct economic acquisitions.” (181) Capitalism, unlike the religion that

had originally motivated it, has not perished or been replaced by another

charismatic religious movement. “Victorious capitalism rests on mechanical

foundations”(182) and its Calvinist supports have now stultified. The entire

conception of the calling now “prowls about in our lives like the ghost of dead

religious beliefs.” (182) The now disenchanted world has lost its God. It is a

cold, heartless but very efficient machine. The work ethic of modern capitalism,

although similar to the Calvinist ethic, remains but the religious reasoning

behind the ethic has eroded away. Constant competition among firms who strugg

le to stay in and benefit from the system has given Capitalism the “character of

[a] sport.” (182) It is now a self sustaining system guided by Adam Smith’s

invisible hand, no longer needing any religious motivations.

Are we to live in this “mechanized petrification” (182) forever? Weber

reasons that there is no way we can know about the future. “No one knows who

will live in this cage in the future.” (182) He does however postulate that “new

prophets” (182) may arise or “a great rebirth of old ideas and ideals” may come

to pass. He also suggests another possibility that of the embellishment of the

“mechanized petrifaction” (182) with a “sort of convulsive self

importance.”(182) There is, however, no way we can know what will occur in the

future at the present time. Until then, we are all “specialists without spirit,

[and] sensualists without heart.” (182)

Works Cited

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Roxbury

Publishing Company: Los Angeles, rpt. 1995.