| | Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (Pelican) |  | Author: R.h. Tawney
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £1.95
Buy Used: £0.90
You Save: £1.05 (54%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 467312
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Impression
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
ISBN: 0140200231
EAN: 9780140200232
ASIN: 0140200231
Publication Date: June 1969
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Very good condition, no torn or folded pages. 1969 print, excellent for age.
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| Customer Reviews:
False Economy June 29, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
R.H. Tawney's "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism" is widely recognised as an authoritative text in the field of modern economic history. Meticulously researched and documented, the pages reveal how the religious values of a fair price, modest rewards, and the sin of exploiting ones neighbour, gradually weakened under the growing influence of international trade and commerce, and how the Church was unable to adapt its ethics to this new world of the market. The consequence was that the economy became the primary value to which all others became subject, and Tawney suggests that this has profoundly negative effects on people and society.
In tracing the growth of the beast Tawney shows why capitalism has now become so ruthless and dehumanising. Scholarly,yet both passionate and readable, "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism" is a classic that is indispensable in order to understand how we arrived at where we are today.
The law of God saith, he that will not work, let him not eat February 14, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a magisterial critical evaluation of Max Weber's thesis 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'.
Tawney argues rightly that there is an interaction between religion and the social/economical environment because 'it seems a little artificial to talk as though capitalist enterprise could not appear till religious changes had produced a capitalist spirit. It would equally be true, and equally one-sided, to say that the religious changes were purely the result of economic movements.' (p.312)
As an example, the Christian Church itself had changed mightily in the Renaissance. It persecuted the Spiritual Franciscans who followed St Francis' rule of evangelical poverty. It was the richest company in the Western world (see W. Manchester: 'A world lit only by fire').
Tawney remarks rightly that what Calvin did for the bourgeoisie of the sixteenth century, Marx did for the proletariat of the nineteenth. Calvin's success was firmly prepared by Puritan moralists, who stressed thrift, work as an end in itself, efficiency and rational calculation. They paved the way for a shrewd commercial and powerful midldle class, which adopted the Calvinist religion and its ethic as a natural ally.
This very rich book shows the real impact of Calvinism on the whole society. One example: wages. Calvinism considered 'that high wages are not a blessing, but a misfortune, since they merely conduce to weekly debauches.' (p. 267)
This is a brilliantly written, colourful, metaphorical and yet scientific work. It should be an example for many historians, of how 'essential historical evolutions' can be presented to the public in a comprehensive and attractive language.
This is an essential read for the understanding of out modern society.
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