levo

Option: Religion

Weberian perspectives on religion

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 1 Section C

Overview

Doctrine of predestination, calling in Calvinist teaching and this-worldly asceticism.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What does Weber mean by the spirit of capitalism?

Numbers

What is the central argument of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?

Key term

What is the doctrine of predestination?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is the central argument of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?

    Model answer

    Weber argued in 1905 that ascetic Protestantism supplied the mentality modern capitalism required. Religious ideas were therefore treated as a cause of economic change rather than only a reflection of it.

  2. 2

    What is the doctrine of predestination?

    Model answer

    Predestination is the Calvinist teaching that God has already determined who will be saved. Nothing a believer does can alter that decision.

  3. 3

    What psychological effect did Weber attribute to predestination?

    Model answer

    Weber argued that predestination produced an unbearable salvation anxiety among Calvinists. Believers sought signs that they were among the chosen.

  4. 4

    What is meant by the calling in Calvinist teaching?

    Model answer

    The calling is the belief that a person's daily work is a duty set by God. Diligence in ordinary occupations became a religious obligation rather than a worldly distraction.

  5. 5

    How did asceticism lead to the accumulation of capital?

    Model answer

    Weber argued that Calvinists earned steadily but refused to spend on pleasure. Profit could therefore only be reinvested, which produced accumulation without any intention to enjoy it.

  6. 6

    What does Weber mean by the spirit of capitalism?

    Model answer

    The spirit of capitalism is the pursuit of profit as a duty and an end in itself. Weber distinguished it from ordinary greed. Greed is found in every society and explains nothing distinctive.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Culture and the Social Construction of Culture
Socialisation and Its Agencies
Socialisation and Identity
Option: Families and Households

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Early was often ethnocentric.
anthropologypsychologybiology

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

ASecularisation has weakened religious pressure to marry.
BCohabitation is now widely accepted.
CThe cost of a wedding deters many couples.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Mortality counts deaths in a population.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Option: Religion, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.