Reading response - Book Report/Review Example

Writing 25February Weber’s work tries to explain the role of protestant ethic in the emergence of capitalism. He devoted his timeto find out why the Western world developed into industrial societies while other regions were left behind. According to Weber all societies had all the resource to develop, but some developed more than others. He argued that the development does not rely solely on resource, but people have to be encouraged to leave their traditional ways of life of producing only enough produce for consumption: "A man does not by nature wish to earn more and more money, but only to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose" (Weber 60).

Weber argued that Calvinism encouraged people to amass wealth because elected leader in the service showed traits of handwork, industriousness and had a lot of wealth. Therefore, Weber says that Calvinism encouraged wealth creation and not just ‘enough’ wealth (Weber 172). This became the central theme of Weber in his study of early societies and which he referred to as ‘The protestant Ethic.’ Region played a crucial role in setting the principle goal of capitalism.Weber argue that when capitalism takes root, the protestant ethic die away, and capitalism survive through rationalization of ideas to increase efficiency and mass production.

Rationalisation of government and economic sector result to emergence of bureaucracies, specialization and people start relying on science over religious teachings. Rationalization thus leads to secularization and depersonalization. Work CitedWeber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. 1930. New York. Allen and Unwin.