The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Max Weber · 1905
Weber's famous thesis, that Calvinist theology created the psychological conditions for capitalism, launched a century of debate and founded modern sociology. Whether or not you accept the argument, the question it poses (what is the relationship between culture and economics?) remains central to social science.
The case against
Weber's thesis has worn badly: capitalism flourished in Catholic Venice and Flanders well before Calvin, and the causal arrow from doctrine to ledger was never pinned down. The evidence leans hard on Benjamin Franklin's maxims and a few Puritan divines. The prose buries its arguments under footnotes that sometimes outweigh the page above them.
Non-Fiction · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
