The Close Relationship between Religion and Economy in Max Weber's Sociology of Religion

Abstract

The problem of religion and economic relations in Max Weber's work requires reinterpretations of “The Ethics of Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism.” To study this problem, it is necessary to elucidate the relationship between “the Protestantism” thesis and the wide range of arguments discussed in Weber's sociological works. In this paper, I point out the following three factors. First, Weber refused to give an essential definition of the concept of “religion,” unlike the concepts of “economy” or “law,” and we can see that his work on the sociology of religion reflected the religious academia of the time Second, his sociology of religion has two directions, historical research and theoretical research, which shows that both were closely related. One historical study is theoretical and uses “the ideal type,” while the other theoretical study included the results of historical research such as “the Protestantism” thesis. Weber's work on the sociology of religion became more sophisticated through the mutual linkage of the two. Third, the argument regarding the theodicy problem can be interpreted as a problem of economic disparity. The theodicy problem is important to understand relations between religion and economy in order to elucidate that religious ethics legitimizes the various logics that drive people toward labor.