The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber 1864 - 1920 - the largest German sociologist, founder of sociology as a science of society, still influencing its development. Why are some states richer, while others are poorer? Why did Catholic countries, despite their accumulated colossal wealth, cease to be the locomotives of history after the Reformation of the 16th century? And how did the religious teachings of Protestants, in which asceticism was curiously combined with wealth, influence this? M. Weber answers these questions in his foundational and most cited work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The author shows us the relationship between Protestant religious values and the spirit of capitalism, arguing that in countries where such values dominated, the development of capitalism occurred faster and easier.