Max Weber and Predestination

Reading Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, one is struck in Book I by the references to the Protestant theological philosophy and the implication of predestination to the spirit, and indeed the workings, of capitalism as it exists today. The idea of predestination, most prevalent in the Calvinist sect, is among the aspects of the Protestant religion as a whole that is mentioned but not, at this stage in the reading, analyzed to any great effect. Weber does give a great amount of attention to the notion of one’s laborious calling. Taken together, that which is emphasized and that which is briefly touched upon have had great effect on our current economic system. Protestantism’s emphasis on the material world’s importance to the devout by virtue of the concept of a divine calling, and the lack of blame for one’s actions thanks to predestination fits perfectly the activities of the modern capitalist.As Weber makes clear, among the new forms of spirituality brought about by the Reformation was the concept that, “the valuation of the fulfillment of duty in worldly affairs as the highest form which the moral activity of the individual could assume” (Weber, p. 80). This “fulfillment of duty” involves the concept of a calling, in other words, what God calls one to do here on the mortal plane, “a life task, a definite field in which to work” (Weber, p. 79). A calling can be seen as divine justification, and even a direct command from the man in the sky Himself, to achieve success on the mortal plane. To do otherwise, to the religious man, would be tantamount to heresy. In the capitalistic system, one’s calling can be that of profit and ownership of a business, but for the benefit of those with such a calling, the calling of the greater number of people should be to work for an hourly wage. Preferably on the low side.

The concept of a calling, a divine order to the individual on equal footing with the divine order of the Ten Commandments to the collective, is essential to the moral defense of the working of capitalism for the capitalist in society. Without such divine rationalization, the likelihood that the predatory activities of the capitalist would, sooner or later, lead to his being paraded down the street, covered in tar. If he was left alive, of course. Thus the calling as explanation for the exploitation of the worker by the capitalist, so exquisitely and clearly set down by Marx in Capital, is excused not only in the mind of the capitalist (for justification of one’s actions, especially when despicable, are a necessity for the continuance of such actions lest one fester in the stench of one’s own moral decay), but also in the communal mind of society.

The capitalist must be driven to succeed by this calling, so much so that his morality and religious fervor should approach it in the same manner and zeal as is applied to church services. The calling of the capitalist, the calling to profit and to exploit, must not only be applicable to one’s religion, no matter which sect or cult it may be, but to all other religions in one’s society, so that the impulse of capitalist gain is hard-wired into the DNA of the population. “The capitalistic system so needs this devotion to the calling of making money, it is an attitude toward material goods which is so well suited to that system, so intimately bound up with the conditions of survival in the economic struggle for existence, that there can today no longer be any question of a necessary connection of that acquisitive manner of life with any single Weltanshauung [or world view]” (Weber, p. 72).

Predestination is an integral and indispensable part of the religious capitalist’s moral justification. The concept of predestination, that one’s actions within the world are already determined and planned by God, also states one’s admission into heaven is not up to chance, or the good works in one’s life. Rather, heaven has or has not been reserved for you since the creation of the world (six-thousand years?) and the universe. God, being the infallible type, also has decided what one’s actions throughout life will be, so even the most horrible of behavior can, theoretically, be excused in one’s mind as God’s plan. It has been stated to the author of this essay, by a Calvinist, that Hitler’s attempted genocide of the European Jewish people was part of God’s plan and that it was not impossible, though improbable, that Hitler could have gone to heaven. It’s not difficult to take the logical jump and apply this lunatic theology to capitalism.

Capitalism is a system based upon the continuous and ever-growing exploitation of resources and labor. Such a system relies upon a vast and subordinate underclass for the minority at the top to continually take advantage of. The concept of a calling enables the rich to grasp the divine morality needed to avoid justice and retribution for their criminal acts of seizure, whether it be seizure of property, in the form of resources, or surplus labor. Further, the calling of the poor to their work of drudgery and labor for the wealthy enables the rich to draw from a vast pool of workers (also, the reinforcement of acceptance of one’s place in the world fills the pews, which, in turn, keeps the poor poor by the system of tithing, a neat circle). Predestination completes the trap of the Protestant religion on the underclass by rendering irrelevant the activity on the mortal sphere by those who do the worst. Protestantism. The capitalist’s best friend.