Introduction
Max Weber, born on April 21, 1864, was a German social scientist and the founder of modern sociological thought. Having a father who was an active lawyer in political life influenced him to attend Heidelberg University and to major in law, history, economics, as well as philosophy. After later continuing his studies at the Universities of Berlin and Göttingen, he managed to pass his bar examination in 1866 and he decided to practice law for a short period of time. In 1889, he wrote an essay on the history of the medieval trading companies that was related to legal and economic history and served as his doctoral thesis. His capacity for intellectual effort helped him write an analysis on the agrarian problems of eastern Germany …show more content…
It is not about the historical origins of religion in a fundamental society, but about religion as a collective and nonrational term. Max Weber was involved in the field of the sociology of religion by publishing essays, such as "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", "The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism", "The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism" and "Ancient Judaism", due to the fact that he saw religion as one of the core forces that gravitated around society. His essays were built on three main themes that consisted of the effect of religious ideas on economic activities, the relationship between social stratification and religious ideas and the distinct characteristics of the Western civilization. Weber's main reasons for focusing on the topic of religious sociology were to explain the distinctive elements of the Western civilization and to find the reasons for the difference between the Occident and the Orient cultures. Through his works, he discovered that an important factor on social innovation were Protestant religious ideas, but there were also other factors, such as the rationalism of scientific pursuit, merging observation with mathematics, science of scholarship beliefs in magic. In his essays, Weber saw that most …show more content…
Furthermore, he stated that there was a higher developed capitalist economy in the countries that had more Protestant inhabitants and the most successful business leaders were Protestant. "The development of the concept of the calling quickly gave to the modern entrepreneur a fabulously clear conscience – and also industrious workers; he gave to his employees as the wages of their ascetic devotion to the calling and of co-operation in his ruthless exploitation of them through capitalism the prospect of eternal salvation. - Max Weber" (Allan, 2005) In his second work, "The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism", Max Weber tried to identify the differences between the Chinese and the Western civilization and the reasons why capitalism did not have enough power to develop in Asian countries, such as China. He discovered that the Western civilizations had a different mentality that was influenced by its dominant religions and that provided the development of
Max Weber, born on April 21, 1864, was a German social scientist and the founder of modern sociological thought. Having a father who was an active lawyer in political life influenced him to attend Heidelberg University and to major in law, history, economics, as well as philosophy. After later continuing his studies at the Universities of Berlin and Göttingen, he managed to pass his bar examination in 1866 and he decided to practice law for a short period of time. In 1889, he wrote an essay on the history of the medieval trading companies that was related to legal and economic history and served as his doctoral thesis. His capacity for intellectual effort helped him write an analysis on the agrarian problems of eastern Germany …show more content…
It is not about the historical origins of religion in a fundamental society, but about religion as a collective and nonrational term. Max Weber was involved in the field of the sociology of religion by publishing essays, such as "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", "The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism", "The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism" and "Ancient Judaism", due to the fact that he saw religion as one of the core forces that gravitated around society. His essays were built on three main themes that consisted of the effect of religious ideas on economic activities, the relationship between social stratification and religious ideas and the distinct characteristics of the Western civilization. Weber's main reasons for focusing on the topic of religious sociology were to explain the distinctive elements of the Western civilization and to find the reasons for the difference between the Occident and the Orient cultures. Through his works, he discovered that an important factor on social innovation were Protestant religious ideas, but there were also other factors, such as the rationalism of scientific pursuit, merging observation with mathematics, science of scholarship beliefs in magic. In his essays, Weber saw that most …show more content…
Furthermore, he stated that there was a higher developed capitalist economy in the countries that had more Protestant inhabitants and the most successful business leaders were Protestant. "The development of the concept of the calling quickly gave to the modern entrepreneur a fabulously clear conscience – and also industrious workers; he gave to his employees as the wages of their ascetic devotion to the calling and of co-operation in his ruthless exploitation of them through capitalism the prospect of eternal salvation. - Max Weber" (Allan, 2005) In his second work, "The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism", Max Weber tried to identify the differences between the Chinese and the Western civilization and the reasons why capitalism did not have enough power to develop in Asian countries, such as China. He discovered that the Western civilizations had a different mentality that was influenced by its dominant religions and that provided the development of