HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

Weber's work on the sociology of religion started with the essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and continued with the analysis of The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism, and Ancient Judaism.

His three main themes were the effect of religious ideas on economic activities, the relation between social stratification and religious ideas, and the distinguishable characteristics of Western civilization.

His goal was to find reasons for the different development paths of the cultures of the Occident and the Orient. In the analysis of his findings, Weber maintained that Puritan (and more widely, Protestant) religious ideas had had a major impact on the development of the economic system of Europe and the United States, but noted that they were not the only factors in this development. "Disenchantment of the world" was identified by Weber as an important distinguishing aspect of Western culture.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Weber's essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is his most famous work. Here, Weber put forward the controversial thesis that the Protestant ethic influenced the development of capitalism. Religious devotion had usually been accompanied by rejection of worldly affairs, including economic pursuit. Why was that not the case with Protestantism? Weber addressed this paradox in his essay, finding his answer in the religious ideas of the Reformation.

Weber argued that certain Protestant ideas, particularly John Calvin's understanding of predestination that sinful people cannot know directly whether they are part of God's elect to whom the grace of salvation is offered, favored rational pursuit of economic gain and worldly activities. Resultant insecurity on the part of Protestants, and their fear of eternal damnation, led them to seek signs indicating God's direction for their lives and affirmation of their correct behavior. Thus, hard work followed by financial success came to be the hallmark of God's grace. Coupled with traditional religious asceticism, these ideas encouraged people to accumulate wealth. It was not the goal of those religious ideas, but rather a byproduct - the inherent logic of those doctrines and the advice based upon them, both directly and indirectly, encouraged planning and self-denial in the pursuit of economic gain.

According to Weber, this "spirit of capitalism" not only involved hard work and entrepreneurialism on the part of Protestants, but also a sense of stewardship over the resulting gains. For if money is not sought after for luxury or self-indulgence, but as moral affirmation, economizing and reinvesting in worthy enterprises become normal economic practices.

The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism

The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism was Weber's second major work on the sociology of religion. Weber focused on those aspects of Chinese society that were different from those of Western Europe and especially contrasted with Puritanism, and posed the question, why did capitalism not develop in China?

As in Europe, Chinese cities had been founded as forts or leaders' residences, and were the centers of trade and crafts. However, they never received political autonomy and its citizens had no special political rights or privileges. This is due to the strength of kinship ties, which stems from religious beliefs in ancestral spirits. Also, the guilds competed against each other for the favor of the emperor, never uniting in order to fight for more rights. Therefore, the residents of Chinese cities never constituted a separate status class like the residents of European cities.

Weber emphasized that instead of metaphysical conjectures, Confucianism taught adjustment to the world. "Superior" men (literati) should stay away from the pursuit of wealth (though not from wealth itself). Therefore, becoming a civil servant was preferred to becoming a businessman and granted a much higher status.

Chinese civilization had no religious prophecy nor a powerful priestly class. The emperor was the high priest of the state religion and the supreme ruler, but popular cults were also tolerated (however the political ambitions of their priests were curtailed). This forms a sharp contrast with medieval Europe, where the church curbed the power of secular rulers and the same faith was professed by rulers and common folk alike.

According to Weber, Confucianism and Puritanism represent two comprehensive but mutually exclusive types of rationalization, each attempting to order human life according to certain ultimate religious beliefs. However, Confucianism aimed at attaining and preserving "a cultured status position" and used it as means of adjustment to the world, education, self-perfection, politeness, and familial piety.

The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism

The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism was Weber's third major work on the sociology of religion. In this work, he dealt with the structure of Indian society, the orthodox doctrines of Hinduism and the heterodox doctrines of Buddhism, the modifications brought by the influence of popular religiosity, and finally with the impact of religious beliefs on the secular ethic of Indian society.

The Indian social system was shaped by the concept of caste. It directly linked religious belief and the segregation of society into status groups. The caste system consisted of the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (warriors), the Vaisyas (merchants), the Sudras (laborers), and the untouchables.

Weber paid special attention to Brahmins and analyzed why they occupied the highest place in Indian society for many centuries. With regard to the concept of dharma, he concluded that the Indian ethical pluralism is very different both from the universal ethic of Confucianism and Christianity. He noted that the caste system prevented the development of urban status groups.

Next, Weber analyzed Hindu religious beliefs, including asceticism and the Hindu worldview, the Brahman orthodox doctrines, the rise and fall of Buddhism in India, the Hindu restoration, and the evolution of the guru. He noted the idea of an immutable world order consisting of the eternal cycles of rebirth and the deprecation of the mundane world, and found that the traditional caste system, supported by the religion, slowed economic development.

He argued that it was the Messianic prophecies in the countries of the Near East, as distinguished from the prophecy of the Asiatic mainland, that prevented the countries of the Occident from following the paths of development marked out by China and India. His next work, Ancient Judaism was an attempt to prove this theory.

Ancient Judaism

In Ancient Judaism, his fourth major work on the sociology of religion, Weber attempted to explain the "combination of circumstances" that was responsible for the early differences between Oriental and Occidental religiosity. It is especially visible when the interworldly asceticism developed by Western Christianity is contrasted with mystical contemplation of the kind developed in India. Weber noted that some aspects of Christianity sought to conquer and change the world, rather than withdraw from its imperfections. This fundamental characteristic of Christianity (when compared to Far Eastern religions) stems originally from the ancient Jewish prophecy.

Stating his reasons for investigating ancient Judaism, Weber wrote that

Weber analyzed the interaction between the Bedouins, the cities, the herdsmen, and the peasants, including the conflicts between them and the rise and fall of the United Monarchy. The time of the United Monarchy appears as a mere episode, dividing the period of confederacy since the Exodus and the settlement of the Israelites in Palestine from the period of political decline following the Division of the Monarchy. This division into periods has major implications for religious history. Since the basic tenets of Judaism were formulated during the time of Israelite confederacy and after the fall of the United Monarchy, they became the basis of the prophetic movement that left a lasting impression on Western civilization.

Weber noted that Judaism not only fathered Christianity and Islam, but was crucial to the rise of modern Occident state, as its influences were as important to those of Hellenistic and Roman cultures.