The Protestant Work Ethic

The Protestant Work Ethic is the degree to which poverty is a moral failure. The key sociologist in this view is Max Weber who wrote the book “The protestant ethic, and the spirit of capitalism.”


In Weber’s book Jean Calvin, a Protegan Theologist, talked about predestination. Predestination is the idea that “our destinies are pre determined” and God knows our fate.

This brought about the protestant church, which wanted to interpret the bible in its own way. Calvin believed that God would give us signs of whether we were determined to be great. These signs were wealth and success, to get this, people worked harder to be wealthy so that they would have more success. This was the cause of capitalism.

I think this is a good way to get the economy going. Tell people that predetermined success is shown by wealth and they will work harder to get that.