Differences Between The Sacred And The Profane

Durkheim defines religion as “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things”. He says all societies

and subsequent reinvestment of capital, is an end that both Weber and Marx reach in their analyses of society and agree on in definition. However, while Marx tells us that phantoms of the brain i.e. morality, religion, ideology, cannot develop independently of material production or influence it, Weber argues that ideas and religion can indeed determine life and the processes of life, namely our material production. The key difference between the two is their scope of factors that can cause historical development. Marx only allows for one factor, productive forces and the economic conditions resulting from them; Weber, on the other hand, acknowledges that while ideology and religion can support the economic relations as a driving factor, they can also develop independently and become a factor, a force on its own that can alter production, economic conditions, and thus history. By accounting for the multiple ways in which a society can be altered, Weber provides a more complete and applicable understanding of historical development and the powerful concept that an idea from an individual or group of individuals can have a legitimate and significant effect on the direction of society.

In Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane, he accentuates the inevitable distinction between the sacred and profane.This develops when an individual tries to establish himself in his world and acknowledges his own individuality of the worldly and physical spaces he takes up. Chaos seems to be in the areas where the profane governs and there are no principles in a profane universe. The idea of the sacred comes from knowledge itself. The brahmanas defines religion and human existence with the sacredness embedded in water which brings forth life.

Calvinism is a form of protestant that was formed during the reformation. Weber argues that it is the Calvinist’s beliefs that helped bring about social change and modern capitalism. For example one of Calvinists

Question 3. 3.(TCO 2) Who was the German theologian who argued in The Idea of the Holy that religions emerge when people experience that aspect of reality which is essentially mysterious? (Points : 4)

It is important to understand that Weber believed capitalism was fuelled by ideas, such as Protestantism, specifically Calvinism. His belief was that Protestants were very different to Catholics, spending more time focusing on their community rather than purely focusing on their own individual families. They worked towards a common goal, to ensure they worked to their full potential. Weber claimed that Protestants experienced feelings of guilt and directed these negative emotions into their work which Weber called “The Protestant Work

It cannot be denied that there are many benefits to affirmative action in that it helps to ensure both fairness and diversity in organizations, such as schools. In many places across American discrimination is still alive and well. Because of this, affirmative action is necessary to action ensure that people of minority groups will not be denied admission to schools or employment based on their race. After all, there are some organizations who would not be willing to change their policies unless forced by the government to do so. Also, many minority groups are still underrepresented in schools and occupations, which is unfortunate because it gives people a skewed view of what the population of America truly looks like and lets them think of different races as simply the homogenous others, instead of seeing them as people. Being around people who are different is “necessary to dispel stereotypes about minorities” and as the Department of Education points out, “Interacting with students who have different perspectives and life experiences can

Affirmative action was an outcome of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. In the past, affirmative action has been used to improve opportunities with education and employment for excluded minority groups in American society President Kennedy was the first to use this term “in an Executive order that directed government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin” (Affirmative Action, 2014).

I believe that Max Weber’s most acclaimed work ‘The Protestant Work Ethic and The Spirit of

One of the most obvious key takeaways of affirmative action is the diversity that is desirable in the workplace. Students and business professionals in the workforce alike are more than likely going to work with someone of a different race or nationality. Integration and the removal of segregation laws have proven to be very influential in understanding the true character behind a person not of the same skin color or ethnicity. These characteristics would put an end to the reliance of crude stereotypes that would otherwise diminish any objectivity in the treatment of that person. In this sense, it would seem unimaginable to live without affirmative action. Otherwise, history would be prone to repeat itself. Aside from the most straightforward advantage of diversity, affirmative action also opens up new opportunities for minorities.

Ordinarily, religion is one of the rationales of social orientations, that in one way or another influences the society’s social stability. This is because religion is the impelling force for regulations in the society as well as a destabilizing drive for transformation. Marx Weber together with Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim were very influential personalities in the course of the 19th century, and even now. In one way or another, these persons attempted to make plain as well as comprehensible social change, particularly in the aspect of religion in the society. Their perspectives on religion differ on some aspects. Even though their views on religion are diverse, they all seem to be in accord that

German sociologist and historian Max Weber describes this spirit as “that attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically in the manner which we have illustrated by the example of Benjamin Franklin [i.e. that time is money, credit is money, and money can beget money]” (Weber). Weber goes on to describe the Calvinistic ‘calling’ as a cause of capitalistic spirit, which was essentially a vocation which a Calvinist is called by God to do. The calling is connected to the gifts that God had given each human being for the good of society. Weber also asserts that because of the Calvinist belief in predestination, there was an uncertainty of purpose among Calvinists, as they felt deeply troubled as to whether they would be saved or not and actively sought signs as to what God’s plan for them was. Eventually, these Calvinists sought God’s approval based upon the commercial profit and monetary gain that came as a result of their calling (Weber). It was the hard work which came as a result of this that gave birth to capitalist spirit. Undoubtedly, Calvinistic economic theory had a huge impact on modern forms of capitalism. The Anglican church, while having some effect on the economy of England at the time, had no profound influence on economics outside of the immediate time period. The only event worth noting is the dissolution of the Benedictine monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536. He destroyed the monasteries in

During the period of time that Samuel and his wife begin to follow Miller and his movement, Powers most clearly shows Samuel’s Calvinistic mindset. When arguing over the question of whether or not the Clare’s pursuit of profit was moral, Samuel gives the reader their biggest glimpse into his views related to predestination and God’s gifts to his chosen followers: “If they had been committing some wrong, Samuel assured her, they could not have stayed in the business so long. Prosperity only proved how fully they satisfied the wishes of both God and men” (89). Weber believed that through their pursuit of eternal life, the Calvinists created a business model of hard work and moral superiority, all things that Samuel brings to J. Clare and Sons.

Emile Durkheim and Max Weber are two prominent philosophers whose theories unequivocally differed on countless themes. The outlooks of Durkheim and Weber contrast however, their general message in which they attempt to convey are of similar ideologies. When examining Durkheim and the concept of sacred and profane, one would see how it parallels with Weber’s notion of enchantment and disenchantment. Their stances on religion correspond with each other and despite their distinct conceptual frameworks and differing perspectives, Durkheim and Weber both offer profound contributions to the concepts of religion and modernity.

For Weber, the idea of rationalism rational thought based on societal efficiency and productivity, runs through his works particularly The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this seminal work, Weber argues that the idea of Protestantism contributes to history and economics in that piety and the chance for a better life after death cause humans to strive for economic gain in certain ways, whereas that is not always using work as an expression of self - it is work, as Marx might say, for the ends justifying the means, rather than the means justifying what work is being done. Authority, then, rather than being solely economic, does have at its