The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, by M. Weber

I/ What is the spirit of capitalism?

According to Marx’s theory, labour is what define oneself in the world and give meaning to one’s life. Weber emphasized that theory when he published in 1904 “The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism”.

Contrary to what if often thought, capitalism is not an immoderate and immoral seek for money, but a rational and controlled way of doing business.
Profitability, which could be defined as the efficiency at generating earnings, is the mean purpose of the capitalistic state of mind. Limitless avidity is not a characteristic of the capitalism spirit but it often get confused with the need of profitability that motivates every action of capitalistic economy.

Capitalistic spirit can also be defined with a complete devotion to work and an instinct of acquisition. Thus, investment appears as a leading principle of capitalism, in the sense that it is meant to enable the investors to make more money than what he/she spent in the first place.

As we can see, the spirit of capitalism was not an inconsiderate race for money. Decisions are taken in order to r...

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