Max Weber's argument that the 'spirit of capitalism' — disciplined, ascetic, rational wealth accumulation as a calling — had its origins in Calvinist Protestant theology.
The elective affinity between Calvinism and capitalism: Calvinist anxiety about predestination status drove believers to seek signs of election in worldly success — disciplined work, deferred consumption, rational enterprise. This 'inner-worldly asceticism' generated the psychological conditions for modern capitalism. Weber explicitly does not claim Calvinism caused capitalism — only that it provided the motivational structure. One of the most debated theses in social science.
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