Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber serves as sociology's founding members with the "Protestant Ethic" being one of it's foundational texts. But, it's also much more than just sociology, Weber contends with and remolds much of the humanities and philosophy of the past. Here I hope to sum up his thesis within the "Protestant Ethic" but also expand upon it's consequence within contemporary philosophy and society.

Massive thanks to @SkipIntroYT for helping me on the quotes!

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[blake]

I appreciate that you establish the social-material implications and the historical context of the text instead of just an overview of what the text directly states. I often find myself having to pause reading books or listening to lectures so I can fill in the gaps in knowledge left by the people teaching this stuff. You’re highly effective at communicating the substance of a thinker’s thought!

Great work!

[guibarbosa]

I'm a Sociology student in Portugal and when I was studying Weber I was shocked that I had never heard of him until then, especially considering his connection with Marxist and Capitalist ideas. Really apreciated this video, thanks!

[epochphilosophy]

*EDIT: I want to clarify at 6:30, as it has caused some confusion, and a slight misreading on my behalf. Calvin is a believer in predestination, specifically 'double predestination'. Which introduces the dimension that god actively (rather than passively) sends subjects to hell. Thus, to Weber, spurring an anxiety that made was partially to blame for the Protestant Ethic. Something I glossed over was Weber argued that this new "work ethic" was worldly evidence of being among the elect (people going to Heaven) in the world. So, in a way, a status thing. That said, later throughout the history this evolved into something that negated predestination in favor of a worldly will towards Heaven. This is after Calvin.

Hopefully this clears some stuff up and thanks for some people for commenting, as it seems I even misread some of this. (German writers, man.)

[raffaojeda]

I studied sociology, I find Weber very brave, inteligent of diverse areas such as philosophy, sociology, histroy economics and Psychology very ineresting human being.

[tingle-tainmentasmr]

I'm in my Soc 101 class and struggling with the old wording of the paper. After watching this I can actually understand what I'm reading. Thank you! I know I need to adapt to reading classic literature but I believe your explanation can help me make necessary connections. Thanks again.

[lvlpaint]

how does this channel have so few views? I always learn something or gain a new perspective when I watch your videos

[eruno_]

as a student of administrative sciences which Weber's work is essential too, I appreciate learning more about him from leftist perspective

[-AkhilTej-]

🎯💎🏆 Great insightful & fruitful video 🏆💎🎯

लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु
( May all beings lead Prosperous life )

[antonantal]

@7:06 how does the doctrine of double predestination contrast the belief that God predetermines our fate for us? I would say it enforces that belief and eliminates human free will.

[ashish]

After marx only Weber I really admired...His all. theories are so profound and still relevent his idealtype work as measuring rod for Sociologist ❤❤

[ryancier]

As a pedestrian enthusiast for all of this stuff myself, I feel like Weber is very underrated. He seems just as edgy and stoically bearded as Freud and all the others of the 20th Century. He needs a dark netflix series about him. XD

EDIT: What I mean is, I've noticed teachers and professors use Weber as an introductory point, but he's much more epistemological than that.

[ideasmatterpod]

Great video, as always. I haven't read Weber, but I definitely agree that a one-sided materialism (or idealism) is not productive. I've been looking for someone who threads the needle between both approaches, so I should definitely read this book. Your point about the sociological change and a new, moralised outlook on wealth is a good one. In Australia there's a great political sociologist called Judith Brett who wrote a series of books analysing the right-side of Australian politics. She basically argues that the Australian middle class, being overwhelming Protestant, viewed work and savings in a quasi-religious way. To be thrifty was a sign of good moral character. This attitude gets applied to government spending: governments ought to save and exercise restraint, just as a good family would. Interesting stuff.

[GrymShip]

always amazed by your work. I can't pay for it through patreon or anything but I think I speak for many, when I say that I always, value, like and share it.
I don't know how interested you would be on making content about Max Stirner, but I'll leave my suggestion here, just in case.

[PatrickBateman]

I once read, but I forgot the source, that Weber is one of the greatest thinkers of all time, way beyond other intellectuals that are better known than him. I once read that he was “one of the last great polyhistors”. His knowledge of history (including Chinese or asian history), ancient history, economics, philosophy and the new science of sociology was absolutely mind-boggling. There are very few intellectuals past or present that can match this thinker.

[IELTSplusAcademy]

This was an amazing presentation! Thank you, beautiful, effective and informative!

[WanderingExistence]

Your work is so wonderfully produced. My first encounter with Max Weber was his definition of the state in his 1919 Politics As A Vocation, which has been bastardized into shorthand forms and misinterpreted. Notably misused by American libertarians who purposefully leave out his conceptions of legitimization for their own propagandic purposes of demonizing anything that is monopolistic in the face of their free market ideology. Understanding Weber helped me to realize how pseudo-intellectual the American libertarian movement is. His deeper conceptions of legitimization have helped me comprehend other notions of political thought. I'm glad you also recognize him as a highly important thinker who's not nearly talked about as much as he should be. I found your work by looking up Zizek, which has been very illuminating. Thank you again for your highly polished material, I will remember about your Patreon for when I am not so economically anxious.

[zackjohnlee]

Ive missed you on my feed. Thank you for this.

[davidxflood]

Thank you, this was a wonderful watch!! This was a wonderful explanation of Weber's book. I came across it when reading Marshall Berman's 'All That is Solid' many years ago. I think Weber is a wonderful companion to Marx as his book explains the spiritual origins of modern capitalism. I created whole project out of Weber's idea of 'The Iron Cage', which Berman highlights in his book. I later found out that the term 'cage' was actually a mistranslation from German to English and more accurately it should be cloak and not cage.

[Sociotube]

Great video summary of one of sociology's classics!

[anirudh]

7:15, calvinist must make up for this new found free will within the material world . I don't understand, in just the previous few minutes it mentioned the calvinist believed in predestination, how is that compatible with finding free will in the material world ?