Max Weber’s Illness and Its Influence on Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism, Research Paper Example

Thesis

The noted German Sociologist and Economist Max Weber (1864-1920), famous for his theories that have helped in the foundation of modern sociology. He accounts the psychological conditions which made possible the development of capitalist civilization. Weber argued that Calvinist Protestantism had reaped the seeds of modern Capitalism. The biographical vignettes raise questions about the relationship between personal trouble and public issues in the lives of Max Weber. In the long standing biographical evaluation it is found that Max Weber had to suppress and control his emotional and mental illness and give instances in the work as a separate realm. My work will schedule how his personal relationship, troubled life and relationships could affect his hypothesis. How Weber could not finally maintain the fine line between life and work – Weber could have not resisted his influence as a revolutionary apocalypse. This article critically evaluates and summarizes the Weber formulation and theory; gains insights and background information of Weber from his childhood days till death; and critically examines the direct link between his ill health and influence on the theory of Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber completed his theory formulation after he had recovered from his illness.

Book Publication

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was published in the form of two articles in the Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft and Sozialpolitic in 1904 and 1905. Together with the subsequent article, which appeared in 1906 on the Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism, they form the first of studies contained in Weber’s Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Religionssoziologie. The English translation appeared in book form as The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1930.

Weber’s Theory of Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Weber believed that the circumstances in the life of Protestants, especially Calvinism, instigated the development of Western Capitalism. It essentially meant that the Protestant were driven in the pursuit of profit and forever renewed profit. He hints that two main characteristics of Protestantism, mainly the predestination theory of Calvinism and worldly asceticism encouraged Western Capitalism. It is these factors that create a psychological frame of mind, which creates pressure on the Calvinists to lead a life of success, measured in terms of money. The paper relates that some critics argue that it was not religion, which encouraged the development of Western capitalism, but the social exclusion of Protestants from professions; Outline of Weber’s Thesis: Weber emphasized that in Christianity making money as a calling was “contrary to the ethical feelings of whole epochs…”  [1 p.73] The restriction in the pre-Protestant societies had largely inhibited “the traditional manner of life, the traditional rate of profit, and the traditional amount of work…” [1 p.67] Yet, this pattern “was suddenly destroyed, and often entirely without any essential change in the form of organization…” Weber argued that it was Calvinism that altered the sinful attributes of profit making of the era into one of rational and unashamed pursuits for own sake and benefit. He talked about the era where religion dominated life –however, it was the advocacy of Martin Luther (1483- 1546) during this period, and his justification of predetermined salvation through faith, that rolled the ball of Capitalism. He preached that religious vocation was not the ultimate way to salvation; and laid emphasis on economic vocations and personal faith for God.  John Calvin (1509- 1564), through his theory of Calvinism further added dimension to the economic theory in Capitalism. Weber translated his theory in his interpretation – according to Calvin, “grace is a free gift, something that the Giver, by definition, must be free to bestow or withhold. Under this definition, sacraments, good deeds, contrition, virtue, assent to doctrines, etc. could not influence God [1 p.104]; for, if they could, that would turn grace into God’s side of a transaction instead its being a pure gift. Such absolute divine freedom, from mortal man’s perspective, however, seemed unfathomable and arbitrary [1 p.101]

Thus the Calvinist’s living was “thoroughly rationalized in this world and dominated by the aim to add to the glory of God in earth…” [1 p. 118].  A life under such presumptions became a systematic living out of God’s revealed will. This unique, single minded purpose left no room for ambiguity or diversion, and lead to the creation of Weber’s ascetic character. “Not leisure and enjoyment, but only activity serves to increase the glory of God, according to the definite manifestations of His will” [1 p.157]. Thus “A man without a calling lacks the systematic, methodical character which is… demanded by worldly asceticism” [1 p.161]. Calling represents God’s will for the person in the society and economy. Weber considered calling as a small step for the full fledged capitalist spirit for “the most important criterion [of a calling] is … profitableness. For if God … shows one of His elect a chance of profit, he must do it with a purpose…”[1 p.162]. This “providential interpretation of profit-making justified the activities of the business man,” and led to “the highest ethical appreciation of the sober, middle-class, self-made man” [1 p.163]. Weber’s “ascetic Protestantism” was thus an all rounded value system that determined and shaped the life on an individual. Life was to be more controlled and disciplined to serve God better.  Impulse, external finery, idleness, excess consumption and artifice were to be shunned; and a simple life is to be followed to glorify God. Thus Protestant Ethic ordered life in the ethics of modern capitalism as viewed by Weber. My question is what were the physical, mental, religious and psychological factors that induced the thinking of Max Weber and his protestant ethic? Did the factors conglomerate to affect his health which in turn made him propagator of his theories? Let us evaluate the background of Weber, to get helpful insights about the mandatory influences in his life and work.

Max Weber’ Life

Family

Max was a German writer, an academician and a sociologist. He was born near Erfurt, Saxony (Central Germany) which was a part of Prussia at that time. Weber’s father, Sr. Max Weber was a wealthy bureaucrat, member of National Liberal Party (sat at Prussian House and the Reichstag) and was part of the German establishment. Sr. Max was a supporter of the “conservative, reactionary policies of the German Kaiser and Chancellor … Bismarck.” [2] (Grabb, p. 44). Bismarck was anti to constitutional rule and represented the Junkers, the eastern German Landowners, the aristocratic, and practised the politics of power. Sr. Max like the majority of National Liberals opposed adult suffrage- he was not by temperament a natural politician like his son. Thus Marianne Weber describes him as, “typically bourgeois, content with himself and the world.”[3] (Lebensbild p.67). Thus he supported pragmatism as Bismarck; Weber being a liberal, who believed in “democracy and human freedom.” [2](Grabb, p. 44). Weber tried to argue at an early stage with his father and decades later it lead to heated arguments with his father. Much of Weber’s life was burdened with his personal relationships with his parents. According to Ritzer, “There was a tension in Weber’s life and, more important, in his work, between the bureaucratic mind, as represented by his father, and his mother’s religiosity. This unresolved tension permeates Weber’s work as it permeated his perrsonal life.”[4] (Ritzer, p. 101). In 1896, Weber argued with his father severely concerning his father’s treatment of his mother. His father died soon after, and Weber did not get a chance of reconciliation. He had a nervous breakdown and was unable to teach regularly again. But strange enough most of his writings were undertaken after this incident. Weber was the eldest of the seven children and was attached to his sisters. His mother, Helene Weber was a Protestant and a Calvinist, with strong moral and absolutist ideas. Weber was strongly inculcated in her faith and belief. Moreover, the activities of Sr. Max who frequently invited scholars and politicians at home Weber also was bitter about his financial dependencies on his father, had a profound influence in shaping the fundamental ethos of Max. The strained relationship between his dominant, authoritarian father and his puritanical mother – who was shrouded in grief after the death of two of her children, lead to the lifelong trauma in Weber…it was this inner turmoil that had made him suffer and was one of the main reasons of his illness. Weber’s puritanical tendencies, with a strange compulsion for work and the fear of dangers of self indulgence showed the early signs of his illness. “I had to relinquish my love [to Emmy] because my father would not have provided the financial means to start a household.” [5] (Roth 2001: 540. The letter was to his sister Klara and is dated 10 September 1913 ) In the process of getting married to her, Marianne tells us that Max then “gave vent to everything he had endured silently in his parental home. “For years I have realized with infinite bitterness that I was unable to obtain a position that would give me an independent income . . . The only thing that attracted me was my own bread, and the fact that it was denied me made my family home a torment. Now the end is in sight.” [6] This end came with Max’s marriage to Marianne, who brought a substantial amount of inherited money into the marriage, [7] who pointedly comments on Max Sr.’s attitude that “with young Max’s marriage, he got rid of the first of his four sons.” It did not end the tensions between father and son, however.

Politics

He played a major role in the intellectual influence of Weber. Prussia was dominated by the aristocratic landowners, known as the Junkers and opposed free trade and capitalism. During Weber’s birth, Germany was divided into separate municipalities and was at war with France and Austria. In 1871, Bismarck was successful in unifying Germany and Prussia, “attained complete control over most of German-speaking Europe”[8] The unification of Germany helped to foster industrial growth, capitalism with strong forces of Marxist influence in the working class. The political scenario of Germany was rigid and “administered by monarchists, militarists, and industrialists.” [8].  Analysis of Weber’s life shows that his early years spent in the chaotic political situation of Germany: during the First World War and the Versailles treaty that was subjugated on Germany. Then there were incessant fights between the Democratic Party and the nationalist right wing party. Then was the Nazi upheaval in 1933. These political disturbances and chaos has undermined Weber’s political insights, and made him a pessimist with regards to national unity, cohesion and political gratification.

Religion

Weber never claimed that he was religious but his studies and his knack in religion is quite obvious. Being the son of a Protestant mother, he very well understood the impact of religion in the mental and spiritual development of an individual. It was the parameter which governed the forces of human nature to earn and reap profits. So he studied various religions like Buddhism and Hinduism and tried to understand the sanctity of Protestantism. He argued that there was something special in Protestantism that helped the Western world t gain economic momentum than the rest of the world. Weber studied religion extensively, and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, his most famous work, is a model of Weber’s  historical and sociological method. Thus in his work he showed the link of Calvinism with the spirit of capitalism.

Marriage, Love and Betrayal

Marx Weber and his dissertation as an academic genius were in contrast to the ebb in his personal relationships. [9] The interpersonal relationships were difficult for him to handle. Foremost was his romantic interest in Emmy Baumgarten – he was in deep enchantment with Emmy and was the first stable attachment after his student life. Emmy on the other hand, was already afflicted with an emotive illness that had affected others in the Fallenstein line [10] Max realized that he could not accommodate Emmy in his life, as Max may have recognized then that he did not want to be that person. Furthermore, to him Emmy’s full recovery still seemed years away, and she appeared only half the person she used to be. [11 ]Within about six months after the visit, in March of 1893, he became engaged to Marianne Schnitger and married her in the fall of that year. Max and Marianne had more of an mental relationship than physical…Dirk Kasler’s work on Max Weber (translated in 1988) hinted at the “physical problems of his relationship with his wife” [12] (p.16) which echoes the more direct account in Mitzman – who after taking interviews close to Weber revealed that Weber, “never consummated his marriage” [13] Kasler suggests that up to 1910, Weber “suppressed his own sexual impulses and polemicised publicly…against an ethic of sensual pleasure”… He notes that, “ an intimate relationship developed between Weber and Else Von Richthofen (X) (later Jaffe), Marianne’s closest friend…From about 1918 the character of this relationship changed, and  from this time it could be regarded as an intimate friendship which lasted until Weber’s death. Furthermore, Weber’s relationship with Mina Tobler, which from 1911- 1912 became important to him, played a significant role…and contributed to the relaxation of this moral vigor.” [14]  Mitzman draws conclusion from the conflict in the personal relationships and suggested that Weber’s own personal breakdown could only be understood as a paralyzing guilt relation to his father,  and more astonishingly sexual paranoia, ‘ a fear of uncontrolled nocturnal emissions” as revealed in documents where Weber is alleged to have written about his psychological problems. Mitzman draws relevant conclusions from Weber’s theory – “ the gradual change in Weber’s theory of the relationship between asceticism and Christian morality…crucial to the formation of the concept of charisma in Weber’s mature work was the separation of a Christian ethic of compassion from his mother’s Calvinist asceticism. In 1907, in a letter on Gross, Weber still saw “the ethic of old unbroken Christianity” in terms of the Kantian ethic of ascetic heroism. The only alternative had been some kind of self indulgent hedonism, which he condemned out of hand. By 1910 a great change had occurred in Weber’s view of moral alternatives. Weber then presented ancient Christianity as mystical and saw its tradition as continued in Greek and Russian Orthodoxy. [16] Mitzman now suggests that Weber now moved to a new position which now saw the ‘interchangeability’ of eroticism and mysticism, and the function of eroticism as an escape from the skeletal coldness of reified ascetic rationality. “ Weber may or may not have been of how his changing ideas on the relationship between Christian ethics and asceticism mirrored the profound changes in his ultimate value code that accompanied his friendship with Else Jaffe, his affair with X …but that the mirror, the changes and the personal involvements were there, is not subject to question. [15] These changes made “Weber more receptive than previously to anti modernist, erotic, mystical and aristocratic views, says Mitzman. Thus he never breathed a word of his affair with X to Marianne…his unconsummated love for Marianne at times appear similar to the acosmic love he mentioned in 1910.

Max Weber and His Sexuality

Max Weber seemed to be an alcoholic, trenched in work almost all the time. Analysis shows that there was not so much of work that had to be done, but maybe Weber did not want to feel the emptiness that would come of being free from work. He knew that leisure would emancipate the torment of sensual discourse and would further instigate his depression. Thus he acted busy most of the time and Marianne had a hard time to cope. Moreover there was no physical discourse within the couple and Marianne realized her husband’s weakness just after her marriage. It was one of the main reasons of the tremendous amount of theoretical passion that Weber had. He instigated the nation, country and people with an unfaultable passion only to realize that he was incapable of using and venting out his sensuous passion in the form of sexual pleasure. Marianne tried to voice her criticism and thought that sexual intercourse was the best therapy in psychic and nervous disorders. However, in Max Weber’s imagination sexuality meant struggle. Weber had realized in 1894 that his mania for work was probably an escape from depression; In 1898 the escape into work no longer functioned and he found his scholarly instincts at the dead end. In this situation the sexual frustration heightened and he lost his sleep and appetite. He suffered from insomnia and eventually fell ill. “His collapse in 1898 and 1899 followed by his triumphant swift launch as a scholar, was evidently a profound turning point not only in Weber’ life but also in his thinking”[17] And I believe that another hitherto unrecognized turning point was clearly the year 1909. “As late as June 1909,  Max and Marianne’s conditions were so desperate that Marianne had serious discussions with doctors as to whether the best solution might not be castration” [18] But only a few month later in September, there begins a time of Euphoria, when the first erotic experience coincide with a previously all but unknown power of intellectual creativity. [19] Thereafter Weber had no profound fall, and from that time on he hardly wrestled with any longer with the epistemological problems, instead relying increasingly on his colossal intuitive capacity for understanding. Marianne had already suggested in many of her writings that there was an intimate connection between Weber’s life and his work. One might summarize that this may simply be a widow’s remembrance, who wanted to elevate her husband into a cult figure as both a scholar and a a personality and was therefore eager to shape all the manifestations of his life into a whole entity[20] he manifests that all the important documents and relevant information shows that his personal experience had a strong influence in his work.

How His Illness Affected Protestantism

Radkau thinks that his biography could offer flesh and blood to the ‘ecology of spirit’…At an earlier date the biologist, Jacob Von Uexkull, investigated on the connection between the ‘inner world’ the inner nature of living beings and their relationship to external nature. Weber has time and used the word ‘nature’ (3583 times in his work) – nature in his work of Protestant ethic – as a substance it is ubiquitous in Weber’s thinking and even more as a generator of tension, since he was often wrestling with ‘naturalism’ in science and scholarship (including therapy) as well with his own nature. He was wrestling at one and at the same time with the ‘naturalism’ of the doctors treating him as well as the ‘naturalism’ in the humanities. (Radkau- 2005, pg 37) Radkau says that “ I certainly agree with the work intrinsic Weber interpretations and that understanding Weber is the foremost attempt to reconstruct the inner logic of his thought process. Thus it would be wrong to assume that he engaged in a form of self delusion and covered up his own tortured state. (p.134) However the core of ‘worldly asceticism’ that he describes was not sexual asceticism, but rather strict discipline, and of all the sins, the wasting of time constitutes the first and in principle the most serious of faults.[21] And it was precisely this discipline that Weber was utterly incapable of in the years of his illness, indeed and many years afterwards. Even when he was in good old days again, he felt the utmost horror towards any deadline of obligation. Weber thus defined the worldly asceticism that he invented from the old monastic asceticism in a way that he himself at the height of his suffering from illness represented its exact opposite. At that time there was a dialectical relationship between life and work and the work was not merely a mirror of life. Weber who previously much to Marianne’s despair,  had not at all been generous with time ( Radkau- Max Weber, p. 211ff) However during his illness he failed to maintain any such discipline and started to question the theory of his strong asceticism. His collapse for him became the insight of his rediscovery of original human nature. “People do not wish by nature to earn more and more money; instead they wish simply to live, and to live as accustomed and to earn as much as required to do so” ( Weber Protestant Ethic, p.23) thus it illustrates how Weber had interpreted his breakdown , “Nature so long violated, was now beginning to take revenge”.

Though Max never claimed to be religious, after the years of illness and suffering, religion had become the great theme of his life. The theme that emanated most from within himself and did not come from external sources and he was less interested in the churches and rituals; but emphasized more on the ‘charismatic’ communities bound together by ‘brotherhood’. What Weber was looking for in religion was passion and he finds it in the redemption not in Protestant ethic but later on when he made his own experience of grace and redemption. In Protestant ethic it appeared 4 times but later it appeared 480 times. Max Weber realized that redemption meant its own kind of heroism and did not mean a break with human nature – it essentially meant pure acosmic love, “The deep calm bliss of all heroes of acosmic goodness there merged in the redemptive religions always with the merciful knowledge of the natural incompleteness of one’s own as well as of human knowledge.” (Radkau- Max Weber 541) Weber’s more successful creation was charisma which he transferred from religion to politics.

Thus Weber and his theory of Protestant Ethic and spirit of Capitalism which was mainly formulated with all the lifelong experiences and influences of Weber, especially when Calvinism and ascetic sense gain a momentum and a more human touch after his severe illness and after he relied on the love and sensuous relations of his life.

Bibliography

[1]Max Weber , 1930, The Theory of Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism [2]Grabb, Edward G., Theories of Social Inequality: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives, second edition, Toronto, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1990. HT609 G72

[3] Weber’s wife Marianne in her Lebensbild of Max Weber (1926) p.67

[4]Fritz ringer.2004, max weber: an intellectual biography, p. 101

[5] (Roth 2001: 540. The letter was to his sister Klara and is dated 10 September 1913 )

[6] Weber wrote that “my desire has always been for an economically independent and practical effectiveness.” (Weber 1988: 185. Weber was in the running for a position in Freiburg earlier than in 1894, in 1893, but it fell through.)

[7] Roth, Guenther (2001) Max Webers deutsch-englische Familiengeschichte 1800-1950. Mit Briefen und Dokumenten. T¸bingen: Mohr-Siebeck. ( Roth 2001: 549-50.) in 1893, and his professorship in Freiburg in 1894 and also Roth (2001: 550),

[8]Ashley and Orenstein, p. 264,  266

[9] Mike Gain, Harmless Lovers? Gender, Theory and Personal Relationships

[10] (As Marianne Weber – 1988: 93, put it, Emmy “had also inherited the nervous problems of her mother and grandmother, and at an early age exhaustion and melancholia began to overshadow her youth.”).

[11] ] “It was as if one encountered someone from a different world . . . A full recovery has the prospect of taking many years”, letter, dated 14 September 1892 ; Weber 1936: 350).

[12] Dirk Kasler’s work on Max Weber (translated in 1988)

[13]Mitzman, Arthur (1970) The Iron Cage: An Historical Interpretation of Max Weber p.276

[14] ] Käsler, Dirk (1988) Max Weber: An Introduction to his Life and Work. Translated by Philippa Hurd.

[15] Ibid:120

[16] ]Mitzman: 1970: 287

[17] Wilhelm Hennis- Max Weber’s Wissenchaft vom Menschen – Tubingen 1996, p.204

[18] Radkau, Max Weber

[19] Ibib:548

[20] Christa Kruger – Dual Biography of Max and Marianne Weber) Dirk Kasler (Max Weber, 1998)

[21] Max Weber- The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism- new translation and introduction by Stephen Kalberg, 2002, p.105