Someone driven by the "capitalist spirit" does not find motivation in survival, but rather in profit. The capitalist spirit is different because it motivates people to work simply because they believe hard work is important. He believes the capitalist spirit exists in opposition to traditionalism-a system in which people worked only hard enough to get by. The core of Weber's argument is that the spirit of capitalism is an attitude that regards work as an end in and of itself. Throughout his text, he will show how this Protestant emphasis on hard work helped to shape this capitalist fixation on generating profit for profit’s sake.
Weber also defines the “spirit of capitalism” as a motivation to work hard and save money not in order to survive, but in order to make a profit. This meant that more Protestants were motivated to apply themselves to their secular professions than Catholics were. Amongst other differences, Protestants believed that working hard should be valued for its own sake. In particular, Weber focuses on traditional Protestant ethics and the modern “spirit of capitalism.” He defines these ethics by explaining how Protestants differed from Catholics. Overall, he makes a historical argument for the importance of religion in contributing to capitalist culture. Weber helps to define and explain his early 20th century culture by tracing the influence of religious thought on capitalist values.
The main question of Weber’s text is: how did Protestant ethics influence the “spirit” of capitalism? This central dilemma responds to the cultural debates of Weber’s time.
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