Essay on Marx, Weber and their Critique of Global Capitalism

Weber argues that religious beliefs contributed to major social change- specifically the emergence of modern capitalism in Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Modern capitalism differs from capitalism as it is based on systematic, efficient and a rational pursuit of profit and profit for its own sake rather than consumption. Weber calls this the spirit of capitalism.

Weber claims that the modern spirit of capitalism sees profit as righteous. Weber set out in attempt of understanding the source of this spirit. While studying Protestantism provided insight, this insight alone could not explain the relationship. After further observation, Weber did concluded that one branch of Protestantism, Calvinism, does provide a partial explanation. Calvinists subscribe to the belief of predestination.

Each of these thinkers (Marx and Weber) had views on social inequality in addition to their theories on the existence of capitalism. It is much easier to decipher Marx’s feelings about social inequality. Marx believed that any system which had one individual “reporting” to another individualsystem that had one individual “reporting” to gave the latter the most power in theiranother individual gave the latter the most power in his or her dynamic.

Max Weber focused mainly on religion is his writing "The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit of Capitalism". He states that labor must be done with a purpose, not for selfish gain. This undermines Marx's belief of capitalism; that our economy relies on profit and wealth. Weber implies that in our Western culture, labor is done for profit and it is separate from home life. This was, at the time, unique to our society. Weber speaks about Protestantism, specifically the English Puritanism side of the faith. He mentions how "waste of time is thus the first and in principle the deadliest of sins... loss of time through sociability, idle talk, luxury, even more sleep than is necessary for health is worthy of absolute moral condemnation." These are things that we in today's world take for granted. We consider these things part of our lives. Weber also says that we are to be God's servants, and that money we make is to not be spent on things for our own enjoyment, but instead, to be carefully kept track of and

Weber argued that the spirit of capitalism lay behind the unplanned growth of it in the 19th century. He defined this spirit as the belief in pursuing an ever increasing profit from economic activity, intolerance of greed, but encouragement to hard work in order to invest in and make profits. In other words, capitalists should refrain from living luxuriously while always prioritizing work. Max Weber also believed that this spirit developed directly from acetic Protestantism. Simple beliefs of acetic Protestantism require that people renounce physical pleasures and comfort in the pursuit of greater spiritual fulfillment. Weber considered Protestantism ideology as a sort of calling to the notion that humans have one task set forth by God and to prove one's faith to God, one must be working at it. Weber also focused on capitalism's relation to Calvinism, which is a branch of Protestantism. Calvinism held onto to the belief that whether someone would go to heaven or hell was predestined by earning the status of having greater wealth (Max Weber, Intellectual Influences & Core Ideas, 10-24-16). Followers could thus convince themselves that they were destined for salvation. For example, if two boys named Ben and Mike each decided to set up their own lemonade stands, start with three dollars which they use to buy three jugs of lemonade. Each jug of lemonade sells for a total of two dollars meaning both boys have made a profit of three dollars. What should they do with their earnings? They can reinvest their profits to buy more jugs of lemonade expanding their business or they should spend the money on candy. Mike realizes that if he buys candy for a dollar, he's not sacrificing one jug of lemonade but thousands of jugs. He decides to reinvest the money into his

Karl Marx wrote that religion was, “an opiate of the people.” Although those words were not published in The German Ideology, they best describe his various views on religion. Marx wrote that there was a social relationship between the upper class or bourgeoisie and religion. The upper class that owned the means of production used religion as a tool to keep the working class or proletariat, oppressed and poor. Marx criticized that religion had so many ulterior motives that there was no actual spiritual meaning. He argued that religion existed because of the state of society and its class struggles. The existence of religion also helped limit or avoid change in society.

The idea of an economic system having ties to religious beliefs is a foreign concept. Capitalism from the way I view it is all about acquiring more on the backs of others, an idea at odds with salvation, virtue, and religion. It proved challenging trying to reconcile the two throughout the reading, nonetheless Weber helped a great deal in understanding the

Karl Marx developed his ideology as a means of enabling all people to obtain the necessities of life. Marxism embodies the belief that communal sharing ultimately maximizes society’s welfare. The masses willingly accept this simple doctrine; it builds on Catholicism’s central ideal of universal human dignity. In practice, Marxism fails and will continue to fail because communal sharing contradicts simple human nature, reduces the productivity of societies through a significant loss of incentives, and shares the historical precedent of coinciding with oppressive totalitarian systems. In contrast, capitalism rewards those individuals who operate more efficiently and results in the overall advancement of society. As a result, the unintended consequences of Marxism result in its inevitable collapse.

Karl Marx and Marx Weber The latter part of the nineteenth century was teeming with evolved

In “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Max Weber, he gives his analysis of the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism to show how cultural belief systems, like religious ethic, can support the development of specific economic institutions. His analysis also shows how capitalism became morally defined as something more than pursuing interests but was replaced with culturally defined as a moral calling due to the Protestant values. Weber explains the spirit of capitalism as the attempt to bring out certain difficulties which are in the very nature of this type of investigation. Capitalism isn’t about gaining the greatest possible of money but to gain profit. Capitalism is defined as an economic system based on the principles

Both Marx and Weber are concerned with the origins and development of capitalism. For Weber, religion, and specifically Protestantism, is a major factor in the development of modern capitalism. For Marx, capitalism is material based it is the result of who owns the means of production.

In short, the methodology of Marx and Weber adopted to analysis the development of capitalist society is different. Both of them may share some similarity in the sense that they included economic condition as a factor, but the differ in the sense that Marx believe in 'historical materialism' and argue that class relation of production is the sole determinant of the society; Weber, on the opposite, reject Marx's idea of economic determinism and argued that the development of capitalist society is explain by combination of unique and contingent events, such as the religion reformation of catholic church to protestant church, also led to the change in people's economic orientation and thus the development of capitalist society. Such a division in methodology is important to our understanding of their different understanding of the theory of the stratification of 'class', an important concept in the understanding of capitalist society.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Max Weber (1864-1920) both are Sociologist, Economist and Philosophers. Karl Marx explains that religion is a social opiate and agent of social control, Max Weber describes it on another way that religion can in some instances be an independent variable and a source of social change.

Social thought is the process of how we see the current social system and its functions and structures within. Described as “an idea, a concept or a set of concepts about social problems and its possible solutions in a social situation” (Farooq, 2014). Associated with social questions and their relative answers which are thoroughly answered by academics such as sociologists and philosophers. Despite a vast amount of sociologists contributing to our development of social thought over time, I’m particularly interested in the work of Max Weber and Karl Marx. Both theorist’s theories co-inside and take on an interesting partial Marxist perspective on society and social thought. Weber, a German sociologist, philosopher and political economist born in 1864 is one of the best philosophers to explain the theory of the economic system of capitalism. He had a wide range of work stretching over many areas such as “music, religion, love, law, the economy, politics” (Macionis and Plummer, 2005). His theories complement Marx’s previous work. Karl Marx was a revolutionary communist born in Germany before Weber’s time in 1818. A very modern thinker who’s “work has had a huge impact upon intellectual life, political activity and society” (Macionis and Plummer, 2005). Writing influential academic texts being the ‘communist manifesto’ and ‘capital’ has had historical impacts on how we interpret society today and contributes to our understanding of class struggles and the theory of capitalism.

Religious beliefs in conjunction with the necessary economic conditions led to the development of the a full blown capitalist society. However through time, the religious foundation that formed the capitalist society gave way and the yearn for material success became “a casing as hard as steel” (Weber PA: 170). Religion created capitalism, but once it was in full swing, religious convictions disappeared and human beings became trapped in an iron cage as prisoners to capitalism. Thus, it is possible to live in a society without religion, but it would be a society that is soulless with increased strive for technological efficiency, rational calculation, and control.