The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism

South Korea is unprecedented in its rapid growth in Christianity in the last century. After major introduction in the late 19th century, Christianity has grown from being 1.7 percent of the population in 1914 to 27.6 percent in 2016; growth being especially notable after the Korean War. Protestant worshipers are particularly prominent in South Korea, making it the country with the highest percentage of population identifying as Protestant in Asia. This leaves South Korea with the unique position of being one of the most Christian identifying nations in Asia and the only one that has not previously been colonized by Christians, unlike the Philippines and the East Timor. Corresponding with this period of religious change came equally great
This research will therefore apply Max Weber’s renowned but controversial work in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, to the changing landscape of South Korea in a test of the thesis’s applicability.
Weber Thesis Max Weber published The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1905 with the intention of explaining the spirit of capitalism that arose during the Enlightenment. He first makes an important distinction between the “impulse to acquisition, pursuit of gain, of money, of the greatest possible amount” and modern capitalism. Greed has existed in the condition of man at all times, throughout history. Instead, he defines capitalism as the rational organization of formally free labor.
Capitalism thus has to have one, a disciplined labor force, and two, regularized investment of capital. Capitalism occurs when “man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose in life. Economic acquisition is no longer subordinated to man as the means for the satisfaction of his material needs.” This motivation to make money without the intention of spending it on this-worldly pleasures is the essence of the spirit of modern