# Endnotes explained — Religion and the Rise of Capitalism

> Chapter companion for Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by R. H. Tawney.

## What happens

The endnotes provide critical commentary on Max Weber's thesis regarding the relationship between Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, highlighting oversimplifications in Weber's argument and emphasizing the complexity of Puritan social ethics, the diversity within Puritanism, and the influence of non-religious intellectual movements such as Renaissance political thought and economic speculation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Conflict Between Ethics and Economics

The endnotes critique Weber's oversimplification of the relationship between religious ethics and economic behavior, highlighting the complexity and diversity within Puritanism.

### Puritanism and the Capitalist Spirit

Weber's association of Puritanism with the capitalist spirit is examined and challenged, noting the variety of social theories within Puritanism and the influence of non-religious factors.

### Transformation of Social Ethics

The notes discuss the shift from rigorous Calvinist discipline to later Puritan individualism, questioning the causes of this transformation.

## Character check-ins

### Max Weber

Weber's thesis is critiqued for oversimplifying the relationship between religious changes and capitalist enterprise, ignoring intellectual movements, and overgeneralizing Calvinism and Puritan social ethics.

### Niccolò Machiavelli

Mentioned as a powerful solvent of traditional ethical restraints, comparable to Calvin in influence on the capitalist spirit.

### John Calvin

Calvin's social ethics are contrasted with later English Puritans; Weber is criticized for ascribing later Puritan views to Calvin and his immediate followers.

### The Puritan

The diversity within seventeenth-century Puritanism is emphasized, including conflicting social theories among aristocrats, Levellers, landowners, Diggers, merchants, and artisans.

### Thomas Cromwell

Cromwell is noted for discovering the lack of a single social theory uniting Puritan factions.

### Richard Baxter

Baxter's Christian Directory is cited in discussions of the calling and economic virtues.

### Richard Steele

Steele's The Tradesman's Calling is referenced for its discourse on the nature and necessity of a calling.

### John Bunyan

Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and Life and Death of Mr. Badman are cited in relation to the calling and ethics of prices.

## Key lines

> Weber ignores, or at least touches too lightly on, intellectual movements, which were favorable to the growth of business enterprise and to an individualist attitude towards economic relations, but which had little to do with religion.

Weber overlooks non-religious intellectual movements that promoted business and individualism.

_Critique of Weber's narrow focus on religion._

> He appears greatly to oversimplify Calvinism itself. In the first place, he apparently ascribes to the English Puritans of the seventeenth century the conception of social ethics held by Calvin and his immediate followers.

Weber oversimplifies Calvinism by attributing later Puritan social ethics to Calvin.

_Highlighting Weber's conflation of different historical periods._

> The really significant question is that of the causes of the change from the one standpoint to the other, a question which Weber appears to ignore.

Weber fails to address why Puritan social ethics changed over time.

_Pointing out a gap in Weber's analysis._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/endnotes
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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters