{"id":1024,"date":"2013-01-17T03:31:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T03:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/life-in-the-cage\/"},"modified":"2013-01-17T03:31:16","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T03:31:16","slug":"life-in-the-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/life-in-the-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"Life in the Cage."},"content":{"rendered":"

This semester my cohort is focusing on capitalism, consumerism and leadership. Our first assigned reading was Max Weber\u2019s, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>. Weber penned it in German in 1904 and 1905, but it\u2019s a book that speaks to the heart of today\u2019s American society.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are lots of ideas from this reading that stand out to me, and I\u2019ll write about two of them here. The first is the connection of vocation and spirituality.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In American society, we\u2019ve become defined by our work. When we meet someone new, one of the first things we ask is, \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d We think and act as if someone\u2019s job gives us a glimpse into who they really are. It enables us to \u2018size them up\u2019 and make assumptions. If he or she owns a business then they are someone we should respect. If he or she works picking up garbage we probably question their intelligence and motivation. If he or she is a doctor then they must be trustworthy. This isn\u2019t all that far from Weber\u2019s argument that Calvinism linked faith and good works. If you were part of the elect you had to work hard as a sign of being chosen. While I don\u2019t think many today would make that connection of grace and work so bluntly, I do think connecting vocation and spiritual vitality (grace\/work\u2019s kissing cousin?) is easy to do. For example, most church committees are filled with professionals and not minimum wage earners. Lawyers are great on the HR committee. Businesses folks are great on the Finance Committee. I have a sneaking suspicion that we get people to fill these rolls based more on their work experience or skill and less on how they model Christ-like-ness. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>If so, is this just an extension of what Weber argues allowed the \u2018Spirit of Capitalism\u2019 to thrive?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The second challenging idea is Weber\u2019s notion of the iron cage. Weber argues that before modernity, money was a means to an end. Money could be used to serve your neighbor, or do good works, and to purchase possessions when necessary. But with modernity that changed.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Money was no longer a means to an end, but the end itself. People worked harder and harder so they could spend more and more money. It\u2019s as if they\u2019re on the hamster wheel chasing something they\u2019ll never obtain. Or, as Weber puts it, they\u2019re in an iron cage with no way out. He writes, \u201cmaterial goods have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history\u201d (pg. 181). I\u2019ll admit that I\u2019m still processing Weber\u2019s connection of Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism, though for me I think of it as \u201cChurch and the Spirit of Capitalism.\u201d Here are some questions that I\u2019m pondering:<\/span><\/p>\n