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How useful is the conceptof the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ when considering
the factors behind Europe and East Asia’s ‘Great Divergence’ in the
nineteenth century?
By the turn on the nineteenth century the North-Western region of Europe had
entered a period of sustained industrial growth which led to the ‘Western World’
dominating the globe until the present day. For this process to have occurred in Europe
and not East Asia is arguably surprising considering East Asia’s, particularly China’s,
similarities of required conditions and earlier potential for this global dominance. This
essay will explore the usefulness of the concept of the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’, a phrase
which stemmed from Max Weber’s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, as an explanation for ‘The Great Divergence’.
In general terms the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ is a theory in which Weber claimed
that the new attitudes generated by the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century
affected the behaviour of the various resulting Protestant groups.1 Weber discussed the
attitudes and behaviours within ascetic Protestant forms such as Pietism Methodism
and various Baptist sects, but focuses predominantly on Calvinism. An example of a
belief within Calvinism which led to behaviours favouring economic development
would be that of predestination. This Protestant dogma encouraged hard work and
success as a means to portray self-confidence to show that one was already destined for
heaven. The pursuit of these actions would lead to an accumulation of money, the
spending of which options were limited within the protestant sects due to the purchase
luxury goods being seen as sinful, contributions to the church were interpreted as acts
1 Jacques Delacroix and FrancoisNeilsen,‘The Beloved Myth: Protestantism and the Riseof Industrial
Capitalismon Nineteenth-Century Europe’, Social Forces, 80, no.2 (2001), 511.

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of iconoclasm and donations to charity encouraged beggary. An ideal solution to these
expenditure issues was saving and investing one’s hard earned money.2 It was these
sorts of attitude and behaviour changes which favoured economic development in
predominantly Protestant areas, setting the seeds for modern capitalism and
contributing to the Industrial Revolution.3
Before investigating whether the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ thesis can be used to
explain the ‘Great Divergence’ of the nineteenth century, it must be acknowledged that
the concept is by no means fully accepted as a factor in explaining European economic
advancement in the early modern period. In his work The Great Divergence Pomeranz
implies his agreement that in early modern Europe there was indeed a shift in attitudes
towards the expenditure of wealth, in that there was greater focus on the increase of
production as opposed to the pursuit of status through religious or artistic means,
making certain European economies more capitalist than others. Despite
acknowledging that other interpretations have followed Weber’s explanations he
admits that, in reference to the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ influencing European capitalist
development, there is a ‘wide agreement on the importance of the phenomenon’.4
However Sanderson, Abrutyn and Proctor, building on previous studies, used
quantitative historical data for European nations during the period 1500-1870 to show
that the percentage of a country’s population that is Protestant is unrelated to both its
level of per capita GDP and the average rate of its annual growth in per capita GDP.5
Despite this it must be considered that the use of quantitative data for historical
2 Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons,(London:
Routledge, 1992),95-128.
3 Delacroix and Neilson, ‘The Beloved Myth’, 511.
4 Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence – China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy,
(Woodstock: Princeton University Press,2000), 77.
5 Stephen K. Sanderson, Seth A. Abrutyn, Kristopher R. Proctor,’Testing the Protestant Ethic Thesis with
QuantativeHistorical Data:A Research Note’, Social Forces, 89, no.3 (2011), 905-911.

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research is not without its issues of contention, with the reliability and accuracy of the
figures used for a project of such wide scale from several centuries ago coming under
scrutiny.
Despite these conflicting view points, for the sake of argument it will be assumed
that the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ was an influential factor in the development of the early
modern European economy in order that it can be analysed whether cultural elements
played a part in East Asia’s failure to industrialise at the time when certain European
nations had done so.
In his respective works on religion in China and India that followed The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber stated how he believed that in India
the influences of Buddhism and Hinduism supported the Caste System, the spirit of
which worked against capitalist development.6 Likewise in China Weber felt that
despite having factors in favour of economic development, such as long periods of
peace, population growth and freedom to choose an occupation,7 these were
outweighed by Buddhist and Confucian influences whose traditionalism and harmony
with nature were effective inhibitors of capitalism.8
Contrary to this Japan was a nation which managed to transform itself from a
feudal to a modern industrial society in the space of fifty years, all be it later than
certain Western nations, following the Meiji Restoration in 1867 despite its society
being moulded by the same Buddhist and Confucian influences as China.9
6 Reinhard Bendix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait, (London: University of CaliforniaPress,1977),196.
7 Ibid, 116.
8 Norman Bell, ‘Tokugawa Religion:The Values of Pre-Industrial Japan by Robert N. Bellah – Review’, The
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol. 25, no. 2 (May, 1959), 239-241.
9 Ibid, 239-240.

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Bellah explained that this process was possible due to the unique religious ethic
of Japan in an argument similar to that Weber’s ‘Protestant Work Ethic’. He reasoned
that the central values in Tokugawa Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration held the
political sphere in high regard, in that it was a sacred obligation of the rulers to act in
the interests of their subjects, who in return were to express loyalty to their overlords.
This resulted in uncompromised commitment to public goals, regardless of class,
occupation or family loyalty (factors Weber felt hindered capitalist development in
India and China10). These values allowed for the rationalization of political controls,
acting as an effective substitute for the economic rationalization of the West. 11
Significantly, religion was closely associated with central political influences and
although traditional ‘other-worldly’ religious elements remained, there were influential
religious sects such as Shingaku, which emphasized practical activity in this world. Just
as within Europe Protestantism had inspired continual ethical efforts as proof of
salvation in theme with predestination, Japanese religion stressed ethical effort as a
return for the ‘blessings’ of their superiors.12
Summarising his argument Bellah stated that Japanese religious ethics were a
direct spur for capitalist activity, although the context was different to the West in that
it may have been a necessity that Japan’s industrial expansion to be a state led venture
rather than a private one. Japan had a culture of unselfish devotion to superiors in a
politically controlled society, as opposed to individuals searching for salvation through
hard work in a laissez-faire society. Japanese religion, mediated by the polity, gave
10 Bendix, Weber: An Intellectual Portrait, 114,196.
11 Bell,‘Tokugawa Religion:The Values of Pre-Industrial Japan by Robert N. Bellah – Review’, 239-240
12 Ibid

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motivation and meaning to the forthcoming rapid industrialization following the Meiji
Restoration.13
In conclusion this writer would argue that the concept of the ‘Protestant Work
Ethic’ a useful one when attempting to explain possible factors behind the ‘Great
Divergence’. However the term ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ is a potentially troublesome one
in that on face value it suggests that the religion in itself is the decisive factor.
Protestantism provided a certain culture which favoured the economic development,
sewing the seeds of capitalism which provided necessary preconditions that aided
industrialization. But as Japanese society under Tokugawa rule showed it was not only
the Protestant religion which could provide this required culture, nor did a nineteenth
century nation’s ability to industrialise have to use the same private led entrepreneurial
method as say Britain. Of course other factors play a crucial role to explain why East and
West experienced a ‘Great Divergence’ such as the location of vital resources and the
importance of wealth gained by certain European nations from their New World
colonies. But the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ is useful as a concept because it implies the
importance of a society requiring a certain kind of culture to have made nineteenth
century industrialization possible. A population needed the motivation and the will to
establish the prerequisite conditions, whether that be as a result of predestination or
loyalty to superiors, in order for the seeds of modern capitalism to take route. This is
not to say that any country’s culture is better or worse than any others, only that some
had an ethos which happened to be favourable to a modern form of economic
development.
13Ibid

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Bibliography
Bell,Norman.,‘TokugawaReligion:The Valuesof Pre-Industrial JapanbyRobertN. Bellah – Review’,
The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol. 25, no. 2 (May, 1959), 239-241.
Bendix, Reinhard., Max Weber:an intellectualportrait,(London:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1977).
Dator, James Allen., ‘The Protestant Ethic in Japan’, The Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 1, no. 1
(October, 1966), 23-40.
Delacroix, Jacques., and Neilsen, Francois., ‘The Beloved Myth: Protestantism and the Rise of
Industrial Capitalism on Nineteenth-Century Europe’, Social Forces, 80, no.2 (2001), 509-53.
Hansen,NilesM., ‘The Protestant Ethic as a General Precondition for Economic Development’, The
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol 29, no. 4 (Nov, 1963), 462-473.
Pomeranz, Kenneth., The Great Divergence – China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World
Economy, (Woodstock: Princeton University Press, 2000).
Sanderson,StephenK., Abrutyn, SethA.,Proctor, Kristopher R., ’Testing the Protestant Ethic Thesis
with Quantative Historical Data: A Research Note’, Social Forces, Vol. 89, no.3 (2011), 905-911.
Weber, Max., The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons,
(London: Routledge, 1992).