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 has been added. In short, The Protestant Ethic thesis is presented in a clear and highly readable manner.

There are three compelling reasons 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.

The Third Roxbury Edition 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 included 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 - capitalism, our "common sense" economic determinism and "rational choices," relationships between cultural forces and social structures, the tension between religion and science, the cultural foundations of democracy, economic cultures and business ethics, and the future of modern capitalism - 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.

Stephen Kalberg is the author of Max Weber's Comparative-Historical Sociology (1994), Max Weber's Sociology of Civilizations (forthcoming), and numerous articles on Weber. He is the editor of Max Weber: The Confrontation with Modernity (2002: Blackwell). 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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Stephen Kalberg

Translator's Preface by Stephen Kalberg

Glossary

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Part I. The Problem

1.  Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification

2.  The "Spirit" of Capitalism

3.  Luther's Conception of the Calling

     a.  Task of the Investigation

Part II. The Vocational Calling of Ascetic Protestantism

4.  The Religious Foundations of This-Worldly Asceticism

     a.  Calvinism
     b.  Pietism
     c.  Methodism
     d.  The Baptizing Sects: The Quakers, Baptists, and Mennonites

5.  Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism

"The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism"
     Prefatory Remarks to Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion