Weber: World Religions and Social Change

Durkheim based his arguments on a very small range of examples, even though he claims his ideas apply to religion in general. Max Weber, by contrast, embarked on a massive study of religions worldwide. No scholar before or since has undertaken a task of such scope. Most of his attention was concentrated on what he called the world religions – those that have attracted large numbers of believers and decisively affected the course of global history. He made detailed studies of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and ancient Judaism (Weber 1951, 1952, 1958, 1963), and in The protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1976; originally published 1904-5) and elsewhere he wrote extensively about the impact of Christianity on the history of the west. He did not, however, complete his projected study of Islam. Weber’s writings on religion differ from those of Durkheim in concentrating on the connection between religion and social change, something to which Durkheim gave little attention. They contrast with the work of Marx because Weber argues that religion is not necessarily a conservative force; on the contrary, religiously inspired movements have often produced dramatic social transformations. Thus Protestantism – particularly Puritanism – was the source of the capitalistic outlook found in the modern West, the early entrepreneurs were mostly Calvinists. Their drive to succeed, which helped initiate Western economic development, was originally prompted by desire to serve God. Material success was for them a sign of divine favor. Weber saw his research on the world religions as a single project. His discussion of the impact of Protestantism on the development of the West is a part of comprehensive attempt to understand the influence of religion on social and economic life in varying cultures. Analyzing the eastern religions, Weber concluded that they provided insuperable barriers to the development of industrial capitalism, such as took place it the West. This is not because the non-Western civilizations are backward; they have simply accepted values different from those which came to predominant in Europe. In traditional China and India, Weber pointed out, there was at certain periods a significant development of commerce, manufacture and urbanism, but these did not generate the radical patterns of social change involved in the rise of industrial capitalism in the West. Religion was a major influence in inhibiting such change. For example, Hinduism is what Weber called an ‘other-worldly’ religion. That is to say its highest values stress escape from the toils of the material world to a higher plane of spiritual existence. The religious feelings and motivations produced by Hinduism do not focus on controlling or shaping the material world. On the contrary, Hinduism sees material reality as a veil hiding the true concerns to which human kind should be oriented. Confucianism also acted to direct effort away from economic development, as this came to be understood in the West, emphasizing harmony with the world rather than promoting active mastery of it. Weber regarded Christianity as a salvation religion, involving the belief that human beings can be saved if they adopt the beliefs of the religion and follow its moral tenets. The notions of sin and of being rescued from sinfulness by God’s grace are important here. They generate a tension and an emotional dynamism essentially absent from the eastern religions. Salvation religions have a ‘revolutionary’ aspect. While the religions of the East cultivate an attitude of passivity in the believer towards the existing order, Christianity involves a constant struggle against sin, and hence can stimulate revolt against the existing order of things. Religious leaders – like Jesus – arise, who interpret existing doctrines in such a way as to challenge the prevailing power structure.

Marx, Durkheim and Weber each identified some important general characteristics of religion, and in some ways their views complement one another. Marx was right to claim that religion often has ideological implications, serving to justify the interests of ruling groups at the expense of others: there are innumerable instances of this in history. Yet Weber was certainly correct to emphasize the unsettling, and often revolutionary, impact of religious ideals on pre-established social orders. Durkheim emphasized on the role of religion in promoting social cohesion.

References

Durkheim, Emile. 1976. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: Allen and Unwin.

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1956. Nuer Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Weber, Max. 1963. The Sociology of Religion. Boston, Mass.: Beacon.

Weber, Max. 1976. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London: Allen and Unwin.

Zeitlin, Irving. 1984. Ancient Judaism: Biblical Criticism from Max Weber to the Present. Cambridge: Polity.

Zeitlin, Irving. 1988. The Historical Jesus. Cambridge: Polity.