A Communist Manifesto on the Protestant Ethic

[georginasand]

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning." ~Bill Gates

It's amazing how, in strange small ways, the world just seems to make sense. I think things like these are the last thread letting me believe in an ordered universe.

In Intro to Sociology we were discussing Max Weber and his work on religion and economics. The short story is that he studied five major religions and discover that only one could have given rise to the efficient bureaucratic capitalism we know today. He published his results under the title "The Protestant Ethic," you can imagine what the result was. But if you think about it, Protestantism is the most efficient way to get to heaven. No confession, no mitvot, no "Patience, my blue friend." Who knew that, among other things, the Grace of Gd, was so efficient.

Note (for people who don't know me in real life, because "woah, there are people I don't know reading my journal!!!"): This is by no means an endorsement of Protestantism, or a degradation of any other religion, including the force. My personal theology looks a bit like what Jesus, George Fox, Peter Abelard, and Hillel in a smoothie maker might look like, so I'll poke fun at anybody, because I'm probably poking at myself.

I remain,
Georgie

Comments

[jadey]

And not just any Protestantism, but the deterministic predestination of Calvinism especially -- practically Christian nihilism! On Earth, at least. It does tend to take the lustre off the spiritual after a time, though. What makes me curious is the ethic that drives the new capitalism. Seems to thrive more on chaos and confusion than efficiency!

[georginasand]

I can't speak exactly for the specific Ethic, as I haven't read very much of it. But if you think about how, historically, Calvinists (and most other Protestants) react to that crazy predestination: they work incredibly hard. Almost across the board (Warning! Vague Generalization with No Quoted Sources! Beep! Beep!)Protestants are very hard workers. Even if you disagree with their politics or their religion, they are pretty determined to be the change they wish to see. Martin Luther wrote out, by hand, 95 Theses. Most of the work that was done for Abolition and Temperance and Suffrage was Protestant (and UU and Society of Friends, I'm still not sure where they stand on the Protestant line). Even in the extreme (and this may be the last time you here me defend Evangelicalism) look at the extreme, and fairly efficient, effort the Evangelicals put into their proselytizing and politics. And I think "think" that is the ethic that Weber is looking at, hard work tempered by some sort of morals. The hard work is what keeps it from becoming Durkheim (who saw society as an external force acting on unconscious individuals who were unconsciously shaping society) and the morals that keep it from becoming Marx (who was driven but no necessarily by more moral motives that the Bourgeois, in my humble opinion).

[jadey]

Oh, absolutely that's the PWE: The narrative structure providing the plot, the characters, and the ultimate moral of the capitalist bedtime story. Classic production-oriented capitalism, at least. Then we have this new beast, consumer-driven capitalism, in which the worker bees are expected to eat as much (or more!) of the mass-produced, government-subsidized, high-fructose-corn-syrup-enriched honey as they produce, and delayed gratification and hard labour gets switched out for "three easy steps!" and "no money down!" Always makes me want to dig up ole Max W. to see what he'd say on the second go-round.

[georginasand]

Oh, yeah, it has definitely changed since he wrote. That's what I fine hilarious (and super interesting) about these sociology guys: They write grand theories of social interactions, but really can't anticipate how much things change in the future.

[jadey]

I love sociological theory, I really do, but I stand by a statement I made during *my* Intro Soc class: too much cheese, not enough cracker. ^__^

Okay, except maybe for Dubois. That guy was from the future.

[georginasand]

Though some of them, especially the grand theorists, may be crackers.

And I agree, except Dubois, he was pretty snazzy.