Religion and the Rise of Capitalism · Theme
Secularization of Social Thought
How Religion and the Rise of Capitalism develops Secularization of Social Thought.
The book traces the shift from a medieval worldview where religion governed all aspects of life, including economics, to a modern one where economic activity is treated as a separate, secular sphere governed by its own laws of expediency rather than moral or religious criteria.
Where it surfaces
- Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
Examines how religious ideas about economics gradually gave way to secular economic theories.
- I: The Medieval Background
The chapter describes the gradual secularization of economic thought after the Restoration, as the claim of religion to maintain rules of good conscience in economic affairs vanished.
- The Growth of Individualism
The chapter highlights the growth of lay opinion that argued economics and ethics are separate, and the replacement of religious teleology with the analogy of a self-regulating mechanism driven by economic motives.
- IV: The Puritan Movement
The chapter describes how Puritanism, as it became a political force, was secularized and committed to compromise.
- III: The Triumph of Economic Virtues
Puritanism, in becoming a political force, was secularized and committed to compromise, with its practical result being liberty rather than discipline.