The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Third Edition - Softcover

Weber, Max; Kalberg, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1891487434 ISBN 13: 9781891487439

Publisher: Roxbury Pub Co, 2001

Synopsis

A new translation of Max Weber’s classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism--one of the most enduring and influential books in sociology--is now available from Roxbury.

Translator Stephen Kalberg is an internationally acclaimed Weberian scholar. In this Third Roxbury Edition, Kalberg offers a precise and nuanced rendering of The Protestant Ethic that captures Weber’s style as well as the unusual subtlety of his descriptions and causal arguments. Kalberg’s standardization of Weber’s terminology facilitates understanding of the various twists and turns in his complex lines of reasoning. Weber’s original italicization, highlighting major themes, has been restored. A glossary of major terms and numerous clarifying endnotes have been added; foreign terms have been translated; bracketed insertions in the text identify obscure names. In short, the Protestant Ethic thesis is presented in a clear and highly readable manner.

There are three compelling reasons for students to read this classic:

It explores the continuing debate regarding the origins and legacy of modern capitalism in the West.
It helps the reader better understand economic development today around the world, especially in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America.
It plumbs the deep cultural forces that affect contemporary work life and the workplace in the United States and Europe.

In his introduction, Kalberg offers a sketch of Weber’s life and his major concerns, examines the intellectual context at the time The Protestant Ethic was written, and summarizes major aspects of Weber’s complex analysis. Kalberg also discusses this classical study in the context of Weber’s other writings. Finally, Kalberg investigates the contribution of The Protestant Ethic for understanding the role played by cultural forces in modern economic development.

The new translation includes Weber’s 1906 essay "The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism." Written after his extensive travels in the United States in 1904, Weber comments here on the diverse ways in which the legacies of early American Protestantism remain influential. Also contained in this edition are Weber’s masterful prefatory remarks to his Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion, in which he defines the uniqueness of Western societies and asks what "ideas and interests" combined to call forth modern Western rationalism.

For students, The Protestant Ethic is a starting point toward understanding the multiple dimensions of social change. The continuing debates about the main elements of modern life, economic cultures and business ethics, our "common sense" economic determinism and "rational choices," the future of modern capitalism, the relationship between cultural forces and social structures, and the tension between science and religion are very much part of the Weberian project. Small wonder, then, that The Protestant Ethic continues to be one of the most frequently assigned readings in sociology.

Translator Stephen Kalberg is the author of Max Weber’s Comparative-Historical Sociology (1994), Max Weber’s Sociology of Civilizations, and numerous articles on Weber. He is the editor of Max Weber: The Confrontation with Modernity (2003l). He teaches at Boston University, where he is Associate Professor of Sociology. He is also co-chair of the German Study Group at Harvard University's Center for European Studies.

About this title

From the Publisher:

This is the third printing of the Roxbury Third Edition (June, 2002). A number of printer’s errors have been corrected. Three passages that included translation errors have been revised.

From the Author:

Throughout my work on this new translation I have been the fortunate recipient of a completely unexpected outpouring of generosity from friends, colleagues, and specialists. It has far exceeded any claims for assistance that a translator might reasonably expect, and it has sustained me. Robert J. Antonio, Ira J. Cohen, Lyn Macgregor, and Michael Moody read an entire early draft of the text and offered comments that altered the direction of my work. My bicultural assistant, Jessica Horst, tirelessly tracked down dozens of references in Boston-area libraries and on the Internet. Ulrich Nanko, a theologian in Stuttgart, located innumerable obscure persons and documents in the best German encyclopedias. John Drysdale, a native speaker of English, closely evaluated the entire translation; his suggestions were always beneficial and almost always accepted. Finally, I owe my greatest debt to Michael Kaern, a native speaker of German who checked the translation line by line. He unfailingly answered my many questions, large and small, and counseled on a daily basis with patience, insight, and high generosity of spirit. He did so, as we debated the merits of various English translations for technical terms, on the basis of an intimate knowledge of the world inhabited by German scholars 100 years ago. I am grateful to all. They have improved this translation far beyond what it otherwise would have been.

About this edition

• Publisher: Roxbury Pub Co
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1891487434
• ISBN 13: 9781891487439
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 292