The Capitalist Future: A Consequence of Calvinist Annunciation :: essays research papers fc

The Capitalist Future A Consequence of Calvinist Annunciation     In his work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, weberpredicts that the future allow be a innovation of "mechanized perfection" devoid of"religious and ethical meaning." In this world new(a) capitalism becomes a selfsustaining system no longer needing the Calvinist religious impetus that hadinspired the work ethic. Weber argues that the future will be a capitalisticsociety, where the proletariat and the bourgeoisie alike, will not be driven byreligious motivation, but instead by a constant struggle to benefit from thesystem. He reasons that this future of the capitalist society is a directconsequence of the teachings of Calvinism. The Calvinist work ethic of livingto work forms the core of modern capitalism. This ethic originated from theCalvinist doctrine of predestination and the notion of a transcendental God.Predestination decrees that God has already picked ou t who those "predestinedinto everlasting life" (100) and those " foreordained to everlasting death"(100). Calvinists also believe that God, a distant "grand conception" (164) whois "beyond all human comprehension," (164) is unreachable. Both these beliefstogether eliminated any surmise of appeasing God through with(predicate) service orsacrifice. The answer to the question whether believers were the chosen or thedamned could thus neither be influenced nor known. If, however, one off-key hiswork into a calling, restricting any desire to wasteful pleasure, he couldexperience a feeling of assurance that he is indeed a penis of the Elect.Calvinism preached this ascetic ethic of hard work and complete absence offrivolous waste of money and time. As a result, the work ethic of thepopulation shifted from working to live to living to work. tralatitiouscapitalism which relied on the "greedy maximization of profit in a one-shotenterprise," (14) bec ame the rational modern capitalism, a continuous cycleinvolving the constant "productive investment funds of capital." (172) The Calvinistteachings demanded honest dealings in business, steady production and sales, andcontinuous savings and reinvestment which no doubt led to phenomenal businessgrowth and success. Weber illustrates in the following quote "When thelimitation of consumption is combined with the release of acquisitive activity,the inevitable practical result is obvious accumulation of capital throughascetic 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 thelives of men." (181) The dependence on external goods went from the "light cloakwhich can be thrown aside at any moment" (181) to a necessity, or as Weber putsit, an " contract cage." (181) The so called acetic lifestyle now led to an increased