ENGLISH ABSTRACT
The German text tries to reconstruct the argumentation and the theoretical background of the so called >Weber-Thesis<. The German social scientist Max Weber (1864 - 1920) discovered in his famous study >The Spirit of Capitalism and the Protestant Ethic< (1904/05) that certain parts of the Protestant theology, especially John Calvin`s (1509-1564) doctrines of vocation and predestination were the most important roots of the modern manner of entrepreneurship.
Weber started his argumentation with his theory of modern capitalism. He differentiates between the general term >capitalism< - a title for all sorts of unlimited search for gain by using capital in a controlled manner - and the modern form of capitalism, which was originally only a western form of acquisition.
The special features of this western capitalism are the separation of the enterprise from the household of his owner - the enterprise is defined as an institution on a separat legal base - and the using of rational methods for controlling the fate of the capital, especially modern forms of accounting. Weber asks for the kind of man who is able to work successfully in this form of modern buisness and he finds his most important attributes in a text of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the famous American politican and inventor. Franklin`s >Advice to a Young Tradesman< urged his audience to define the earning of money as an ethical duty, to live in an ascetic way and to see the own profession as the most important part of the life, which must be performed in a correct and diligent form.
Weber tries to show, that the historical origins of this economic >ethos< are to find in the religion of the reformed churches and sects, the so called >Puritans<. These religious communities - for example the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists and the Quakers - defined the worldly profession as a >vocation< or >calling< from God, which every individual has to follow in a honourable manner in order to transform the world into a >Kingdom of God<. And most of these churches taught their supporters that God will send his grace to whom he likes, the fate of the individual soul is >predestinated< and cannot be changed by the way someone lives.
Following Weber`s thesis these two doctrines - the doctrine of vocation or calling and the doctrine of predestination - changed the life of the people in a special way. Mainly the church members who belonged to the middle classes were confronted with a tormenting uncertainty about the future of their souls and so they started to interpret the doctrine of Calvin in a new way. As nobody is able to change God`s will, it is necessary to find a sign of God that shows if the soul of the believer will be rescued after his death or not. Certain clergymen like John Bunyan or Richard Baxter taught the members of their churches that a dutiful and restless practice of the worldly calling, leading to economic success is a reliable sign for the coming redemption of the soul and so the Puritans began to emphasis the importance of their economic success more than their Catholic or Anglican contemporaries did. But they were not only urged to gain money, they had to gain it in a honourable way and not by - for example - withdrawing rents from the old manor system or by using monopolies, guaranteed by the absolutistic state.
So far the argumentation of Weber. An international bibliography was added to the German text which assembles a selection of relevant secondary sources and books.
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Written by:
Matthias Kuchenbrod
e-mail: mat@matkuch1.de