Expert: Andrew Foley - 11/5/2011

Question
Some historians state that Protestantism created the Industrial revolution. What do you think?

Answer
That theory can be traced to a very influential book by Max Weber called "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". It argues that Protestantism, or more specifically Calvinism, laid the psychological foundation for modern capitalism by instilling in large populations the values of thrift, hard work and the accumulation of wealth. I'm no historian, but in my opinion the theory, although compelling in many respects, doesn't hold up to critical examination as a whole. At best, one can say that Calvinism put a distinct stamp on the Anglo-Saxon form of capitalism as opposed to how capitalism developed in other cultures.

In the first place, any novice student of history can tell you that capitalism existed and flourished well before the Protestant Reformation. One only needs to look at the Renaissance cities of Northern Italy or the international banking system developed by medieval Knights Templars or the merchant trading networks of associations such as the Hanseatic League. Enterprise, private property, trade, capital accumulation, banking, and competition didn't spring into being with the Protestant Reformation. They were well-known features of Catholic Europe and had prompted philosophical and theological examination long before Luther.

While recognizing that capitalism pre-existed Protestantism it must be admitted that at the time this book was written, in the early 20th century, the Protestant world on the whole was far more developed and wealthy than the Catholic world. So, we must ask if the Protestant mentality somehow makes people better suited for success in a capitalist system.

Some facts can be adduced in support of Weber's theory: the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura strongly encouraged the growth of literacy in Protestant societies, which necessarily gave those societies an advantage over less literate competitors. The rejection of the Catholic ecclesiastical structure, of Catholic sacramental theology and praxis, the Protestant doctrine of Sola Fide, its embrace of usury, and even Protestant iconoclasm contributed to the creation of populations who focused more on secular pursuits than spiritual issues. If one is saved by faith and not works (as Protestants believe), and since faith is such a subjective concept that most Protestants will easily satisfy themselves that they are saved, then those people will naturally expend their energies in secular pursuits, rather than in the life-long spiritual exertions familiar to pious Catholics: Sabbath and holy day observations, pilgrimages, rosaries, novenas, shrines, saints' days, and a spiritually introspective life generally infused with an obsession with temptation, sin and repentance. Calvinist theology went even further. Since they believed in predestination of the soul and that a man could not know if he were saved or damned, speculation on one's spiritual fate was fruitless. Therefore it behooved one to pursue his secular vocation with his utmost zeal, live soberly and perhaps a sign of God's favor could be discerned in one's financial success, or failure, as the case may have been. As Calvinism was long a highly influential religion in the two greatest capitalist powers- the U.S. and Great Britain- Weber's saw those modes of thought as being at the heart of their success.

The problem with the theory is that there are too many exceptions and contradictions in reality. As I already mentioned, pre-Reformation Catholic Europe saw several highly developed and very wealthy capitalist societies. In more modern times, predominantly Catholic countries like France, Belgium and Austria, have been exemplary capitalist nations. If a few battles with England had gone the other way, Catholic France may very well have become the dominant military and economic power instead of Protestant England.  In modern America, statistics show that it is Catholic and Jews who are the most economically successful groups, not Protestants. Calvinist Scotland was an extremely poor and backward country, and the legions of people she sent to the New World went on to make up the dominant group in poverty-stricken and backward Appalachia. Although Calvinism was very influential in England for some time, it declined and virtually disappeared well before England's great capitalist expansion, as could also be said of its history in America as well. Germany, the other great capitalist power, never even had a popular Calvinist movement, and was half Catholic to boot. Also, in opposition to the assertion that Protestantism made ignorant Catholic countries literate and wealthy, scholars have shown that the countries of Northern Europe that eventually went Protestant were, before the Reformation, already wealthier and more literate than the countries of Southern Europe that remained Catholic. Weber himself admitted that the most successful capitalists in his time were those who were either indifferent to or hostile to religion. The list could go on and on. In short, in my opinion this theory is much too simplistic to be taken at face value and other explanations for the success or failure of certain groups should be sought.

This is a good article which deals with this very subject: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard56.html