Editing Protestant work ethic

{{short description|Social-theologic concept}}
{{redirect|Protestant Ethic|Weber's book|The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism}}

The '''Protestant work ethic''',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gini |first1=Al |title=Protestant Work Ethic |journal=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society |date=2018 |pages=2791–2793 |doi=10.4135/9781483381503|isbn=9781483381527 }}</ref> also known as the '''Calvinist work ethic'''<ref>The Idea of Work in Europe from Antiquity to Modern Times by Catharina Lis</ref> or the '''Puritan work ethic''',<ref>{{cite book |last=Ryken |first=Leland |date=2010 |title=Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ox7aNVgljlMC&pg=PT51 |publisher=Harper Collins |pages=51– |isbn=978-0-310-87428-7}}</ref> is a [[work ethic]] concept in [[sociology]], [[economics]], and [[history]]. It emphasizes that a person's subscription to the values espoused by the [[Protestantism|Protestant faith]], particularly [[Calvinism]], result in [[diligence]], [[discipline]], and [[frugality]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Protestant Ethic|url=http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/protesta.htm|website=Believe: Religious Information Source|access-date=2016-02-10|archive-date=2017-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819144957/http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/protesta.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

The phrase was initially coined in 1905 by sociologist [[Max Weber]] in his book ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|title=The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism|orig-year=First published 1905|translator-first=Talcott|translator-last=Parsons|date=2003|publisher=Dover| location=New York|isbn=9780486122373}}</ref> Weber asserted that Protestant ethics and values, along with the Calvinist doctrines of [[asceticism]] and [[predestination]], enabled the rise and spread of [[capitalism]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/reference/sociology-weber-calvinism-and-spirit-of-modern-capitalism|title=Weber, Calvinism and the Spirit of Modern…|date=March 22, 2020|website=tutor2u}}</ref> Just as priests and caring professionals are deemed to have a [[vocation]] (or "calling" from God) for their work, according to the Protestant work ethic the "lowly" workman also has a noble vocation which he can fulfill through dedication to his work.

Weber's book is one of the most influential and cited in sociology, although the thesis presented has been controversial since its release. In opposition to Weber, historians such as [[Fernand Braudel]] and [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] assert that the Protestant work ethic did not create capitalism and that capitalism developed in pre-[[Reformation]] Catholic communities. Historian Laurence R. Iannaccone has written that "the most noteworthy feature of the Protestant Ethic thesis is its absence of empirical support."<ref name=iannaccone>{{cite journal |last1=Iannaccone |first1=Laurence R. |title=Introduction to the Economics of Religion |journal=Journal of Economic Literature |date=1998 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=1465–1495 |jstor=2564806 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2564806 |issn=0022-0515}}</ref>

The concept is often credited with helping to define the self-view of societies of Northern, Central and [[Northwestern Europe]] as well as the United States.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ward |first=Charles |date=September 1, 2007 |title=Protestant work ethic that took root in faith is now ingrained in our culture |url=http://www.chron.com/lifestyle/houston-belief/amp/Protestant-work-ethic-that-took-root-in-faith-is-1834963.php |work=Houston Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Luzer |first=Daniel |date=September 4, 2013 |title=The Protestant Work Ethic is Real |url=https://psmag.com/.amp/economics/protestant-worth-ethic-real-65544 |work=Pacific Standard }}</ref>

== Weber's theory==

Following a study trip to America, Weber developed his theory of the Protestant Ethic, which included more considerations than attitude to work. Those with the ethic believed that good fortune (e.g. from hard work) is a vindication of God in this life: a ''[[theodicy]] of fortune''; this supported religious and social actions that proved their right to possess even greater wealth. In contrast, those without the ethic instead emphasized that God will be vindicated by granting  wealth and happiness in the next life: a ''theodicy of misfortune''. These beliefs guided expectations, behaviour and culture, etc.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Swedberg |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c3Mcnh8hCgC |title=The Max Weber Dictionary: Key Words and Central Concepts |last2=Agevall |first2=Ola |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8047-5095-0 |oclc=493610725}}</ref>{{rp|348–349}}

== Basis in Protestant theology ==

According to the theory, Protestants, beginning with [[Martin Luther]], conceptualized worldly work as a duty which benefits both the individual and society as a whole.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://theconversation.com/how-martin-luther-gave-us-the-roots-of-the-protestant-work-ethic-86350 | title=How Martin Luther gave us the roots of the Protestant work ethic | date=November 2017 }}</ref> Thus, the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] idea of [[good works]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/are-good-works-necessary-for-salvation | title=Are Good Works Necessary for Salvation? }}</ref> was transformed for Protestants into an obligation to consistently work diligently as a sign of [[Grace (Christianity)|grace]]. Whereas Catholicism teaches that good works are required of Catholics as a necessary manifestation of the faith they received, and that faith apart from works is dead and barren, the Calvinist theologians taught that only those who were [[Predestination|predestined]] to be saved would be saved.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cru.org/sg/en/stories/life-and-relationships/how-do-we-make-sense-of-predestination-calvinism-arminianism.html | title=Predestination Calvinism &#124; Cru Singapore }}</ref>

For Protestants, salvation is a gift from God; this is the Protestant distinction of ''[[sola gratia]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-gratia/ | title=Sola Gratia | date=June 13, 2016 }}</ref> In light of salvation being a gift of grace, Protestants viewed work as stewardship given to them. Thus Protestants were not working in order to achieve salvation but viewed work as the means by which they could be a blessing to others. Hard work and frugality were thought to be two important applications of being a steward of what God had given them. Protestants were thus attracted to these qualities and strove to reach them.

There are many specific theological examples in the Bible used to support a work ethic. Old Testament examples abound, such as God's command in Exodus 20:8–10 to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God."<ref>{{cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20 – English Standard Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20&version=ESV}}</ref> Another passage from the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament provides an example: "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man."<ref>{{cite web |title=Proverbs 6:6–11 ESV – Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+6%3A6-11&version=ESV}}</ref>

The New Testament also provides many examples, such as the Parable of the Ten Minas in the Book of Luke.<ref>{{cite web |title=Luke 19:11–27 ESV – Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+19%3A11-27&version=ESV}}</ref>

The Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians said "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."<ref>{{cite web |title=2 Thessalonians 3:6–12 ESV – Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+3%3A6-12&version=ESV}}</ref>

==American political history==
[[File:New York at the Jamestown Exposition, Norfolk, Virginia, April 26 to December 1, 1907 (1909) (14780176584).jpg|thumb|Captain John Smith, admiral of New England (1624)]]
In 1607, the first English settlement in America was established at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], led by [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/smith-john-bap-1580-1631/ | title=John Smith (bap. 1580–1631)|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Virginia}}</ref> He trained the first English settlers to work at farming and fishing. These settlers were ill-equipped to survive in the English settlements in the early 1600s and were on the precipice of dying. John Smith emphasized the Protestant work ethic{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} and helped propagate it by stating "He that will not work, shall not eat" which is a direct reference to 2 Thessalonians 3:10.<ref>{{cite web |title=2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV – Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+3%3A10&version=ESV}}</ref> This policy is credited with helping the early colony survive and thrive in its relatively harsh environment.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2At5Ymp3c_E | title=John Smith, Jamestown and the Roots of America | website=[[YouTube]] | date=May 2020 }}</ref>

Writer [[Frank Chodorov]] argued that the Protestant ethic was long considered indispensable for American political figures:
{{blockquote|
There was a time, in these United States, when a candidate for public office could qualify with the electorate only by fixing his birthplace in or near the "log cabin". He may have acquired a competence, or even a fortune, since then, but it was in the tradition that he must have been born of poor parents and made his way up the ladder by sheer ability, self-reliance, and perseverance in the face of hardship. In short, he had to be "self made". The so-called Protestant Ethic then prevalent held that man was a sturdy and responsible individual, responsible to himself, his society, and his God. Anybody who could not measure up to that standard could not qualify for public office or even popular respect. One who was born "with a silver spoon in his mouth" might be envied, but he could not aspire to public acclaim; he had to live out his life in the seclusion of his own class.<ref>{{cite web| first=Frank|last=Chodorov|author-link=Frank Chodorov|url=https://mises.org/daily/5031/The-Radical-Rich |title=The Radical Rich|website=Mises Daily Articles|publisher=[[Mises Institute]]|date=21 March 2011}}</ref>
|author=Frank Chodorov|title=''The Radical Rich''}}

Others have connected the concept of a Protestant work ethic to [[Racism|racist ideals]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Protestant work ethic's relation to intergroup and policy attitudes: A meta-analytic review &#124; Semantic Scholar|year=2011|doi=10.1002/EJSP.832|s2cid=33949400|last1=Rosenthal|first1=L.|journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |volume=41 |issue=7 |pages=874–885 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/121901/white-protestant-roots-american-racism|title=The White Protestant Roots of American Racism|first=Alana|last=Massey|date=May 26, 2015|magazine=The New Republic}}</ref> [[Civil rights movement|Civil rights]] activist [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] said:

{{blockquote|We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor—both black and white, here and abroad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-04/smiley-capitalism-has-always-been-built-back-poor-both-black-and-white|title=Smiley: Capitalism has always been built on the back of the poor — both black and white|website=Public Radio International|date=4 December 2017 }}</ref>}}

==Support==

Late 20th century works by [[Lawrence Harrison (academic)|Lawrence Harrison]], [[Samuel P. Huntington]], and [[David Landes]] revitalized interest {{where|date=November 2023}} in Weber's thesis.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In a ''[[New York Times]]'' article, published on June 8, 2003, [[Niall Ferguson]] claimed, using data from the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD), that "the experience of Western Europe in the past quarter-century offers an unexpected confirmation of the Protestant ethic", that the reason that people in modern Protestant Western European nations actually work fewer hours on average than in the Catholic ones or in the United States is due to a decline in active Protestantism.<ref>{{cite news|first=Niall|last=Ferguson|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/08/weekinreview/the-world-why-america-outpaces-europe-clue-the-god-factor.html |title=The World; Why America Outpaces Europe (Clue: The God Factor) |work=The New York Times |date=June 8, 2003 |access-date=September 19, 2011}}</ref>

=== Individuals ===
There are studies of the existence and impact of the so-called Protestant Ethic on individuals.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001872679705000701 | doi=10.1177/001872679705000701 | title=The Protestant Ethic: Weber's Model and the Empirical Literature | journal=Human Relations | date=July 1997 | volume=50 | issue=7 | pages=757–778 | last1=Jones | first1=Harold B. | s2cid=146171646 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> A study at the [[University of Groningen]] shows that unemployed Protestants fare much worse than the general population psychologically.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://hbr.org/daily-stat/2013/08/there-really-is-such-a-thing-a.html | title=There Really is Such a Thing as the Protestant Work Ethic | journal=Harvard Business Review | date=August 29, 2013 | last1=O'Connell | first1=Andrew }}</ref>

=== United States ===
The original New England Colonies in 1677 were mostly Protestant in origin and exhibited industriousness and respect for laws.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://faculty.washington.edu/ewebb/R301/Protestantism.html | title=Protestantism in America }}</ref>

[[File:New-england-colonies-in-1677.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Some of the original New England Colonies in 1677]]

Pastor John Starke writes that the Protestant work ethic "multiplied myths about Protestantism, Calvinism, vocation, and capitalism. To this day, many believe Protestants work hard so as to build evidence for salvation."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-myth-of-the-protestant-work-ethic/|title=The Myth of the Protestant Work Ethic|first=John|last=Starke|date=16 June 2017 }}</ref>

Some support exists that the Protestant work ethic may be so ingrained in American culture that when it appears people may not recognize it.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Protestant-work-ethic-that-took-root-in-faith-is-1834963.php | title=Protestant work ethic that took root in faith is now ingrained in our culture | newspaper=Chron | date=September 2007 }}</ref>  Due to the history of Protestantism in the United States, it may be difficult to separate the successes of the country from the ethic that may have significantly contributed to propelling it.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

=== Contrast with prosperity theology ethic ===
[[Tshilidzi Marwala]] asserted in 2020 that the principles of Protestant ethic are important for development in [[Africa]] and that they should be secularized and used as an alternative to the ethic of [[Prosperity theology|Prosperity Christianity]], which advocates miracles as a basis of development.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Tscilidzi|last=Marwala|url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-11-29-a-protestant-work-ethic-and-not-the-flash-and-glamour-of-prosperity-christianity-is-what-africa-needs/ | title=A Protestant work ethic, and not the flash and glamour of Prosperity Christianity, is what Africa needs| date=November 29, 2020|access-date=November 23, 2022}}</ref>

In a recent journal article, Benjamin Kirby agrees that this influence of prosperity theology, particularly within [[Neo-charismatic movement|neo-Pentecostal movements]], complicates any attempt to draw parallels between, first, the relationship between contemporary Pentecostalism and [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] capitalism, and second, the relationship between Calvinistic asceticism and modern capitalism that interested Weber. Nevertheless, Kirby emphasises the enduring relevance of Weber's analysis: he proposes a "new elective affinity" between contemporary Pentecostalism and neoliberal capitalism, suggesting that neo-Pentecostal churches may act as vehicles for embedding neoliberal economic processes, for instance by encouraging practitioners to become entrepreneurial, [[Governmentality#Responsibilisation|responsibilised]] citizens.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2019.1573767 | doi=10.1080/0048721X.2019.1573767 | title=Pentecostalism, economics, capitalism: Putting ''the Protestant Ethic'' to work | year=2019 | last1=Kirby | first1=Benjamin | journal=Religion | volume=49 | issue=4 | pages=571–591 | s2cid=182190916 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Criticism==
{{See also|The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism#Criticism}}

===Historicity===
Austrian political economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]] argued that [[capitalism]] began in [[Italy in the Middle Ages|Italy in the 14th century]], not in the Protestant areas of Europe.<ref>{{Citation |title=History of Economic Analysis |first=Joseph A. |last=Schumpeter |oclc=269819 |isbn=978-0-415-10888-1 |pages=74–75 |chapter=Part II From the Beginning to the First Classical Situation (to about 1790), chapter 2 The scholastic Doctors and the Philosophers of Natural Law|year=1994 |publisher=Routledge }}. In the footnote, Schumpeter refers to {{cite book |first=Abbott Payson |last=Usher |title=The Early History of Deposit Banking in Mediterranean Europe |year=1943 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002870348|publisher=Harvard university press |series=Harvard economic studies; v. 75 }} and {{cite journal |last=de Roover |first=Raymond |date=December 1942 |title=Money, Banking, and Credit in Medieval Bruges |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=2, supplement S1 |pages=52–65 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700083431|s2cid=154125596 }}</ref>

Danish macroeconomist Thomas Barnebeck Andersen ''et al.'' found that the location of monasteries of the Catholic Order of [[Cistercian]]s, and specifically their density, highly correlated to this work ethic in later centuries;<ref name="anderson">{{cite journal | title = Pre-Reformation Roots of the Protestant Ethic | first1 = Thomas Barnebeck | last1 = Andersen | first2 =  Jeanet | last2 = Bentzen | first3 = Carl-Johan | last3 = Dalgaard | first4 = Paul | last4 = Sharp | journal = The Economic Journal |  volume = 127 | issue = 604 | date = September 2017 | pages = 1756–1793 | doi = 10.1111/ecoj.12367 | s2cid = 153784078 | url = https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/2e2e6ba7-3cfa-4570-8e59-b7aefcf9fa40 }}</ref> ninety percent of these monasteries were founded before the year 1300 AD. Economist [[Joseph Henrich]] found that this correlation extends right up to the twenty-first century.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Henrich | first1 = Joseph | title = [[The WEIRDest People in the World|The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous]] | publisher = [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] | year = 2020 | isbn = 9780374173227 }}</ref>

Other factors that further developed the European market economy included the strengthening of [[property right]]s and lowering of [[transaction cost]]s with the decline and monetization of [[feudalism]], and the increase in real [[wage]]s following the epidemics of [[bubonic plague]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Voigtlander|first1=Nico|last2=Voth|first2=Hans-Joachim|title=The Three Horsemen of Riches: Plague, War, and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe|url=http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/nico.v/Research/Horsemen.pdf|journal=The Review of Economic Studies|date=October 9, 2012|volume=80|issue=2|pages=774–811|doi=10.1093/restud/rds034|hdl=10230/778|citeseerx=10.1.1.303.2638}}</ref>

Social scientist [[Rodney Stark]] commented that "during their critical period of economic development, these northern centers of capitalism were Catholic, not Protestant", with the [[Reformation]] still far off in the future. Furthermore, he also highlighted the conclusions of other historians, noting that, compared to Catholics, Protestants were "not more likely to hold the high-status capitalist positions", that Catholic Europe did not lag in its industrial development compared to Protestant areas, and that even Weber wrote that "fully developed capitalism had appeared in Europe" long before the Reformation.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/protestant-objections/protestant-modernity.html | title=Protestant Modernity| date=31 January 2017}}</ref> As British historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] stated, the concept that "large-scale industrial capitalism was ideologically impossible before the Reformation is exploded by the simple fact that it existed".<ref>Trevor-Roper. 2001. ''The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century''. Liberty Fund</ref>

French historian [[Fernand Braudel]] wrote that "all historians" opposed the "tenuous theory" of Protestant ethic, despite not being able to entirely quash the theory "once and for all". Braudel continues to remark that the "northern countries took over the place that earlier had been so long and brilliantly been occupied by the old capitalist centers of the Mediterranean. They invented nothing, either in technology or business management".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Braudel |first=Fernand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRukAQAACAAJ |title=Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism Material Civilization and Capitalism |date=1977 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |language=en}}</ref>

Historian [[Laurence R. Iannaccone]] has written that "Ironically, the most noteworthy feature of the Protestant Ethic thesis is its absence of empirical support", citing the work of Swedish economic historian Kurt Samuelsson<ref>{{cite book |last1=Samuelsson |first1=Kurt |last2=French |first2=E. Geoffrey |title=Religion and Economic Action: The Protestant Ethic, the Rise of Capitalism and the Abuses of Scholarship |date=1993 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |jstor=10.3138/j.ctvfrxmzt |isbn=978-0-8020-7733-2 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctvfrxmzt}}</ref> that "economic progress was uncorrelated with religion, or was temporally incompatible with Weber's thesis, or actually reversed the pattern claimed by Weber."<ref name=iannaccone/>

German economists Sascha Becker and [[Ludger Wößmann]] have posited an alternate theory, claiming that the literacy gap between Protestants (as a result of the [[Reformation]]) and Catholics was sufficient explanation for the economic gaps, and that the "results hold when we exploit the initial concentric dispersion of the Reformation to use distance to [[Wittenberg]] as an instrument for Protestantism".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Becker|first1=Sascha O.|last2=Woessmann|first2=Ludger|date=May 2009|title=Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History *|journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics|language=en|volume=124|issue=2|pages=531–596|doi=10.1162/qjec.2009.124.2.531|hdl=1893/1653|s2cid=3113486|issn=0033-5533|hdl-access=free}}</ref> However, they also note that, between Luther (1500) and [[Prussia]] [[Franco-Prussian War|during the Franco-Prussian War]] (1870–71), the limited data available has meant that the period in question is regarded as a "black box" and that only "some cursory discussion and analysis" is possible.<ref>Becker, Wossmann (2007), p. A5, Appendix B</ref>

=== Modern effect===
A 2021 study argues that the values represented by the Protestant ethic as developed by Max Weber are not exclusively related to Protestantism but to the modernization phase of economic development. Weber observed this phase of development in areas dominated by Protestants at the time of his observations. From these observations, he concludes that a worldly asceticism consisting of a preference for work and a sober life are associated with Protestantism. However Dutch management economists Annemiek Schilpzand and Eelke de Jong argue that this value pattern is associated with the modernization phase of a region's economic development and thus, in principle, can be found for any religion or for non-religious persons.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schilpzand |first1=Annemiek |last2=de Jong |first2=Eelke |title=Work ethic and economic development: An investigation into Weber's thesis |journal=[[European Journal of Political Economy]] |date=2021 |volume=66 |pages=101958 |doi=10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101958 |doi-access=free}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}
</ref>

A 2013 study of 44 European countries found that religious heritage of countries explains half of the between-country variation in Europe in Work Ethic, more than modernity, while factors such as income, education, religion and (in another study) secularization explain relatively little. However, the study showed that Protestant heritage was actually the least correlated with a strong work ethic, with Muslim, then Orthodox, then Catholic heritages being the strongest.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stam |first1=Kirsten |last2=Verbakel |first2=Ellen |last3=De Graaf |first3=Paul M. |title=EXPLAINING VARIATION IN WORK ETHIC IN EUROPE: Religious heritage rather than modernisation, the welfare state and communism |journal=European Societies |date=May 2013 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=268–289 |doi=10.1080/14616696.2012.726734|s2cid=145191240 |hdl=2066/121612 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A 2009 study of 32 mainly developed countries found no difference in ''work ethic'' between Catholics and Protestants, after correcting for demographic and country effects; however, it found substantial support for a ''social ethic'' effect due to e.g. the Catholic attention to production within the family and to personal contacts: "Protestant values are shown to shape a type of individual who exerts greater effort in mutual social control, supports institutions more and more critically, is less bound to close circles of family and friends, and also holds more homogenous values.… (which ultimately works) in favour of anonymous markets, as they facilitate legal enforcement and impersonal exchange."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arruñada |first1=Benito |title=Protestants and Catholics: Similar Work Ethic, Different Social Ethic |journal=The Economic Journal |date=2010 |volume=120 |issue=547 |pages=890–918 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02325.x |jstor=40929701 |hdl=10230/624 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40929701 |issn=0013-0133|hdl-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|890,908–910}} A similar result is in the 2003 analysis of Western Europe by Riis.<ref>"In modern Europe, the two main religious groups do not differ much in their work ethics, economic individualism, or emphasis on wealth, though there is some indication of differences with respect to cultural individualism." {{cite journal |last1=Riis |first1=Ole |title=Religion and the Spirit of Capitalism in Modern Europe |journal=Religion in Secularizing Society |date=1 January 2003 |pages=22–47 |doi=10.1163/9789004496354_006|isbn=9789004126220 |s2cid=154567819 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|A re-examination of Weber's ''Protestant Ethic'' indicates that what was important for long-term economic growth was not a greater propensity to save and work of individual Protestants but rather the manner in which a group of Protestants interacted compared with a group of Catholics.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.sceco.umontreal.ca/publications/etext/2001-05.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030807123042/http://www.sceco.umontreal.ca/publications/etext/2001-05.pdf |archive-date=2003-08-07  |title=Religion and Economic Growth: Was Weber Right? |first1=Ulrich |last1=Blum |first2=Leonard |last2=Dudley |date=February 2001 |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Economics |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=207–230|doi=10.1007/PL00003862 |s2cid=13889938 }}</ref>|author=Ulrich Blum, Leonard Dudley|title=Religion and Economic Growth: Was Weber Right? – Journal of Evolutionary Economics|source=Vol 11, issue 2, pp. 217}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Reformed Christianity}}
{{cols|colwidth=21em}}
*[[Achievement ideology]]
*[[Anglo-Saxon economy]]
*[[Max Weber#Critical responses to Weber|Critical responses to Weber]]
*[[Critique of work]]
*{{annotated link|God helps those who help themselves}}
*[[Imperial German influence on Republican Chile]]
*[[Industrial Revolution]]
*[[Laziness]]
*[[Merton thesis]]
*[[Pray and work]]
*[[Predestination in Calvinism]]
*{{annotated link|Prosperity theology}}
*[[Prussian virtues]]
*[[Refusal of work]]
*[[Right to sit]]
*[[Sloth (deadly sin)]]
*[[Underclass]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last= Anderson|first=Elizabeth|author-link=Elizabeth S. Anderson|date=2023 |title=Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back|url=|chapter=The Dual Nature of the Protestant Work Ethic and the Birth of Utilitarianism|location= |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|page= |isbn= 978-1009275439}}
* Sascha O. Becker and Ludger Wossmann. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economics History". Munich Discussion Paper No. 2007-7, January 22, 2007. [http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1366/1/weberLMU.pdf]
* {{Citation |last=Frey |first=Donald |contribution=Protestant Ethic Thesis |title=EH.Net Encyclopedia |editor=Robert Whaples |date=August 14, 2001 |contribution-url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-protestant-ethic-thesis/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328054648/http://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-protestant-ethic-thesis/ |archive-date=March 28, 2014}}
* [[Robert Green (disambiguation)|Robert Green]], editor. ''The Weber Thesis Controversy''. D.C. Heath, 1973, covers some of the criticism of Weber's theory.
* {{Citation |url=http://rhill.coe.uga.edu/workethic/hist.htm |title=Historical Context of the Work Ethic |first=Roger B.|last=Hill |year=1992 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817005854/http://rhill.coe.uga.edu/workethic/hist.htm |archive-date=August 17, 2012}}
* Haller, William. "Milton and the Protestant Ethic." ''Journal of British Studies'' 1.1 (1961): 52–57 [www.jstor.org/stable/175098 online].
* {{cite journal | last1 = McKinnon | first1 = Andrew | year = 2010 | title = Elective affinities of the Protestant ethic: Weber and the chemistry of capitalism | url = http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/3035/1/McKinnon_Elective_Affinities_final_non_format.pdf | journal = Sociological Theory | volume = 28 | issue = 1| pages = 108–126 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-9558.2009.01367.x| hdl = 2164/3035 | s2cid = 144579790 | hdl-access = free }}
* [[Max Weber]]. ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]''. Charles Scribner's sons, 1959.
* {{cite journal| last1=Van Hoorn| first1=André| last2=Maseland| first2=Robbert| title=Does a Protestant work ethic exist? Evidence from the well-being effect of unemployment.| journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization| date=2013| volume=91| issue=2013| doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2013.03.038| issn=0167-2681| pages=1–12| s2cid=73683588| url=https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/17796724/van_Hoorn_2013_JEBO_AC_Does_a_Protestant_work_ethic_exist.pdf}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Protestant Work Ethic}}
[[Category:Protestant theology|Work ethic]]
[[Category:Max Weber]]
[[Category:Sociological theories]]
[[Category:Economy and Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian ethics]]
[[Category:Work]]