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Calvinism and the Protestant Ethic

Author: Zach Lamb

Source: Intro Music by Mark Hannan; Public Domain

Video Transcript
Terms to Know
Protestant Ethic

An ethos born of Calvinism that champions hard work, frugality, material prosperity, and disciplined labor in a calling as pleasing to God.

People to Know
John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential thinker of the Protestant Reformation who advanced the idea of predestination and founded Calvinism. The doctrine of predestination asserts that either one's salvation in heaven, or condemnation in hell, has been predetermined by God before they are born.

Max Weber

Hugely influential, founding sociologist who argued that the ideas of Calvinism, specifically predestination, imbued people in society with a strong work ethic such that traditional attitudes towards work and labor were replaced by a capitalist orientation towards work.