Study Guide for Randall Collins Introduction to Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
1) What was Weber’s response to the traditional view that the Protestant Reformation represented a decline in religiosity from medieval Catholicism?
2) What is the difference between traditional capitalism and modern rational capitalism?
3)What did Weber use as evidence of the existence of the spirit of capitalism in America?
4) When did the Protestant Reformation begin?
5) What was Luther’s concept of "the calling?"
6) What were the two branches of ascetic Protestants?
7) What is the main doctrine of Calvinism?
8) What did Weber say was the pathway to comfort in Calvinism? Was it part of Calvin’s doctrine or an adaptation to it?
9) According to Weber, what were two ways that medieval Catholicism siphoned off religious motivation?
10) Does the spirit of capitalism alive only in religious Protestants? Explain.
11) Weber’s thought evolved to the point where he believed that it was not the Protestant Ethic that was crucial to the development of modern rational capitalism, but something else that is found in religions other than Protestantism. What is it?
12) In addition to the component discussed above, what else did Weber came to believe was necessary for the development of modern rational capitalism?