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Book
ReviewA
New and Important Translation of WeberThe Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
Max Weber, 2002. Third edition. New Introduction and Translation by Stephen
Kalberg. Oxford: Blackwell; ISBN 0631230815, pbk, 266 pp., £9.99
SAGE Publications, Inc.200510.1191/0967550705ab028XX
Diana K.Jones
University of Greenwich
Max Weber's
seminal work, The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capital- ism, undeniably
and essentially concerned with patterns and trends in societies, concurrently,
it can be argued, addresses personal dispositions, the understanding of lives
through time. It is perhaps not widely known that Weber, within the copious
endnotes to his classic and perpetually con- troversial work, acknowledges
the worth of biography in examining the characteristics of ascetic Protestantism.
While rejecting the approach himself, he, nonetheless, speaks unambiguously
of `the stimulating task of illuminating the ascetic Protestant style of
life ... through biographies' (p. 225). Indeed, it seems as if he is directly
inviting biographical analy- sis of cotton manufacturer extraordinaire, John
Rylands (1801–88), when he suggests that, `in the nineteenth century,
the classical representatives of [the spirit of capitalism] were the Manchester
or Rhineland-Westphalia upstart newcomers to wealth from modest circumstances'
(p. 27). In all respects, Nonconformist entrepreneur John Rylands, `Cotton
King' of Manchester, fits the bill. Historian, D.A. Farnie, asserts that `no
other businessman approaches so closely to the ideal type of self-made man'
(1973: 93). For Weber it was Benjamin Franklin's character that represented
the quintessential ideal type capitalist entrepreneur. Stephen Kalberg's recent
translation of The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, is long
overdue. In all respects it is impressive and an invaluable resource for modern
Weberian students, not least those inter- ested in a life history approach
to research. Previously, the only English version was Talcott Parsons' 1930
translation. This new edition does not disappoint. Parsons, Kalberg asserts,
directed his work at those `steeped in a liberal arts canon' (p. v). Today's
readership, he argues, is more gen- eral, less conversant with great works
from previous generations. His aim has been to produce a text easily accessible
to a wide audience – scholars, teachers, students but also the general
reader. Simultaneously, he has sought to promote readability, while retaining
`reliability of meaning and precision of intention, in respect to Weber's
fine-grained causal lines of argument' (p. v). In this, he is wholly successful.
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By way
of introduction, an invaluable 54-page commentary examines the on-going controversy
surrounding this most famous of Weber's works: • the man and his central
concerns; • organizational axes and intellectual context; • origins
of the Protestant Ethic (PE) and Weber's analysis; • the capacity of
the PE to displace economic traditionalism, `push' to modern capitalism, the
pathway from the PE to the spirit of capitalism; and • PE as an example
of Weber's sociology. Also within this new volume are two importantly related
Weberian essays. The Protestant sects and the spirit of capitalism (1906)
(a far less scholarly work than PE, says Kalberg), translated by Hans H. Gerth
and C. Wright Mill, included by virtue of its complementary nature and its
review of differences in belief and conduct between Catholics, Lutherans and
Puritans. `Prefatory remarks' to Collected essays in the sociology of religion
(1920), newly translated by Kalberg, written late in 1919 as a general introduction
to Weber's Collected essays in the sociology of reli- gion series (1920).
Parsons placed them before PE under the title `Author's Introduction'. This,
Kalberg claims (notwithstanding a transla- tor's explanation), has led generations
of readers to incorrectly regard this essay as a direct introduction to PE.
As noted, an important goal for Kalberg is accessibility to Weber's text.
This he achieves through a variety of means. For example, a comprehen- sive
glossary of terms, historical and those key to Weber's analysis, is a most
welcome aid to a fuller understanding of the text. Each is helpfully printed
in bold when first encountered. Weber's extensive endnotes, essen- tial for
the reader who seeks deeper insights and understanding of the arguments, are
included in full, together with further clarifications from Kalberg himself,
marked [sk]. Additional assistance in accessing endnotes (incidentally longer
than the text itself) is a chapter by chapter sampling of major subjects/themes.
Translations of foreign language words and phrases are placed in brackets
within the text. Bracketed inserts are also used to good effect to extend
partial information in the original text, not infrequently biographical.
For example: `The doctrine of predestina- tion shattered [Johan von] Oldenbarneveldt's
[1547–1619] struggle [against the Dutch state],12 and the schism in
the Anglican Church became irrevocable under [the anti-Puritan monarch] James
I [1566–1625] ...' (p. 56). Endnote 12 (p. 192), an addition from Kalberg,
provides further biographical detail: `Oldenbarnevelt was a Dutch diplomat.
He negotiated the 1609 armistice with Spain and was executed after conflicts
with state
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authorities
[sk].' Another useful aid to study is the introduction of sub-divisions within
chapters. While Kalberg's translation of familiar passages may initially jar
on the senses and seem less poetic than Parsons' rendering, reflection rec-
ognizes a welcome opportunity to re-assess and re-evaluate Weber's analysis.
For example, Parsons' translation of the concluding paragraph, Chapter 4 The
religious foundations of worldy asceticism, reads: `Christian asceticism ...
strode into the market-place of life, slammed the door of the monastery behind
it, and undertook to penetrate just that daily routine of life with its methodicalness,
to fashion it into a life in the world, but neither of nor for this world'
(p. 154). Kalberg translates: Christian asceticism slammed the gates of the
cloister, entered into the hustle and bustle of life, and undertook a new
task: to saturate mundane, everyday life with its methodicalness. In the process,
it sought to reorganize practical life into a rational life in the world rather
than, as earlier, in the monastery. Yet this rational life in the world, was
not of this world or for this world. (p. 101) Parsons' translation does no
more than allude to Weber's central theory of an `elective affinity', the
contingent nature of a perceived relationship between Protestant ethics and
the spirit of modern capitalism: `... we can only proceed by investigating
whether and at what points certain correla- tions between forms of religious
belief and practical ethics can be worked out' (p. 91). Kalberg is more direct:
... we can only proceed in the following manner. First, we will investigate
whether (and in what ways) specific `elective affinities' (Wahlverwandt- schaften)
between certain forms of religious belief and a vocational ethic (Berufsethik)
are discernible. Doing so will allow us, whenever possible, to illuminate
the type of influence that the religious movement, as a conse- quence of these
elective affinities, had upon the development of economic culture. In addition,
the general direction of this influence upon economic culture, as a consequence
of these elective affinities, can be clarified. (pp. 49–50) Again,
contrast Parsons – `Calvinisim, in comparison, appears to be more closely
related to the hard legalism and the active enterprise of bour- geois-capitalistic
entrepreneurs' (p. 139), and Kalberg – `In comparison, the virtues
cultivated by Calvinism appear to stand in a relationship of greater elective
affinity to the restrained, strict and active posture of cap- italist employers
of the middle class' (p. 89). In an extensive endnote rivalling Weber himself,
Kalberg robustly challenges Parson's `iron cage' translation, which, he says,
has obtained unjustifiable myth-like status
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within
sociological circles. His own translation reads: `Yet fate allowed a steel-hard
casing (stahlhartes Gehäuse) to be forged from this coat' (p. 123). He presents
a range of arguments, what he refers to as `substantive reasons' for preferring
`casing' over `cage' (pp. 245–46). Essentially, Kalberg achieves his
goal of providing an indispensable, up-to-date resource for the scholar, teacher,
student while, at the same time presenting the general, albeit serious reader
with an engaging version of this most outstanding of Weber's works. REFERENCES
Farnie, D.A.
1973: John Rylands of Manchester. Bulletin
of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 56: 93—129.
Weber, M. 1930: The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Trans.
Talcott Parsons. New York: Scribner's . There have been a number of reissues of this translation
from a variety of publishers.