‘—

Weber’s Spirit of Capitalism

In Chapter two “The Spirit of Capitalism”, by Weber, he explains to the connection between the spirit of capitalism and rationalism, and he uses Benjamin Franklin’s quote to explain capitalism. He says, “time is money and credit is money”. He believes that a man should be punctual with everything that he does. Franklin says, “Honesty is useful because it assures credit, punctuality” (pg.17) He believes people would benefit from doing things on time and that anything outside of it would be a waste. He thinks it would take the people to a path of “righteousness” and it encourages them to work together and inspire each other; Its good for the society. As long a a man earns money and does it the right way everyone would benefit from it. Weber on the other hand says that a capitalist economy depends of the workers and their productivity, there has to be a increase int he work. People are selfish and greedy, capitalism is a business about making money, we exchange work for money.  Its like now we get paid and we are forced to work because we cant make out own products.

Franklin believes in the “spirit of capitalism” and he thinks its the right way to go because it balances everything. I agree with Franklin’s statement, but then again I don’t.”Time is money” applies to a capitalist society, because its such a crucial thing for the market. I think sometimes people are stuck with jobs they hate, the world is just all about money. Anything can be expressed in time, the more hours you work the more you earn, right?  I can give up my time for money but money wont buy me any time back. I am still slightly unsure of what weber means by rationalism, but the “spirit of capitalism, is good for the economy, its had an impact on everyone.