WEBER GEH 2

According to Weber, which of these conditions are necessary for the emergence of capitalism?

A) enterpreneur-organized labor process B) a propertyless stratum of workers C) rational capitalist enterprise based on

rational accounting D) rational law E all of the above

Specifities of the West CITIES IN THE WESTERN SENSE “There are and have been everywhere hand laborers and

entrepreneurs, but never and nowhere were they included in a unitary social class. The notion of the citizen of the state has its forerunners in antiquity and in the medieval city. Here there were citizens as holders of political rights, while outside the occident only traces of this relation are met with…..”

In the middle ages, the distinguishing characteristic [of the city] was the possession of its own law and court and an autonomous administration of whatever extent.

Specifities of the West That cities have not existed outside the occident in

the sense of a political community is a fact calling for explanation.

The earliest references to cities as political units designate rather their revolutionary character, the brotherhood in arms for mutual aid and protection, involving the usurpation of political power.

Synoecism= The union of several towns or villages into or under one capital city.

Specifities of the West The occidental city is in its beginnings first of all a defense

group, an organization of those economically competent to bear arms, to equip and train themselves.

In the west the army equipped by the war lord, and the separation of soldier from the paraphernalia of war, in a way analogous to the separation of the worker from the means of production, is a product of the modern era, while in Asia it stands at the apex of historical development. There was no Egyptian or Babylonian Assyrian army which would have presented a picture similar to that of the Homeric mass army, the feudal army of the west, the city army of the ancient oils, or the medieval guild army.

Specifities of the West The forms of religious brotherhood and self

equipment for war made possible the origin and existence of the city.

Specifities of the West Weber sees religious origins in the city: prophecy among the Jews, which destroyed magic within the confines of

Judaism; magical procedure remained real but remained devilish instead of divine.

The second fact was the Pentecostal miracle, the ceremonial adoption into the spirit of Christ which was a decisive factor in the extraordinary spread of early Christian enthusiasm.

The final factor was the day in Antioch when Paul in opposition to Peter, espoused the fellowship of the uncircumcised. The magical barriers between clans, tribes and peoples, which were still known in the ancient polis to a considerable degree, were thus set aside and the establishment of the occidental city was made possible.

[Q: This kind of universalism is true of Islam too!!!!?????]

Specifities of the West In antiquity, “there was no city of importance which lay more

than a day’s journey distant from the sea; only those places flourished which for political or geographical reasons possessed exceptional opportunities for trade.”

The basis of democratization is everywhere purely military in character; it lies in the rise of disciplined infantry, the hoplites of antiquity [    A heavy-armed foot-soldier of ancient Greece], the guild army of the middle ages.

Military discipline meant the triumph of democracy because the community wished and was compelled to secure the cooperation of the non-aristocratic masses and hence put arms, along with political power, into their hands.

Some terms you will encounter Ephors     1. The title given to certain magistrates in

various Dorian states, esp. at Sparta, where the five ephors, appointed annually by popular election, exercised a controlling power over the kings.

Tribunes     1. A title designating one of several officers in the Roman administration; spec.    a. tribune of the people (L. tribnus plebis), one of two (later five, then ten) officers appointed to protect the interests and rights of the plebeians from the patricians. 

Specifities of the West In the middle ages the democratic institution of the city consisted in the

guilds. Guilds were democratic, but in middle ages cities subjugated their

hinterland, make the surrounding country subservient to the town “ Thus in antiquity the guild, as the ruling power in the town, is absent,

and with it guild policy, and also the opposition between labor and capital which is present even at the close of the middle ages.”

“ The equalization of classes and removal of unfreedom became the dominant tendency in the development of the medieval city.”

The city of antiquity, in contrast with that of the middle ages, shows increasing class inequality.

More terms…. Cleruchy;At Athens, a citizen who received

an allotment of land in a foreign country, but retained his rights as a citizen at home.

Metics= 1. A resident alien in a Greek city, having some of the privileges of citizenship.

Specificities of the West The ancient city, based on political military monopoly for the citizenry,

highest development of military technology, no craft guilds, hence plunder plays an important role

In middle ages, military edge is with the knights, “nothing else was equal to an armed feudal host” the burghers “never ventured offensive operations, only defensively employed.” […] “The burgher army of the middle ages could never fulfill the acquisitive guild function of the ancient hoplite or legion army.

English cities, never formed a city state or sought to dominate the surrounding country, the independence of the English city rested on the fact that it leased the taxing power from the king, and only those were citizens who shared in this lease, according to which the designated sum was furnished by the city as a unit.

Specificities of the West The opposition between city and country disappeared early as

the cities accepted numerous landed gentlemen into their citizenship. The town burgher finally secured the upper hand, although down to the most recent times the nobility retained formal leadership in affairs.

Previous forms of city, (plundering????) , represented “non rational forms of capitalism”

“ All this, however, relates to occasional economic activity of an irrational character, while no rational system of labor organization developed out of these arrangements. “

In antiquity the freedom of the cities was swept away by a bureaucratically organized world empire within which there was no longer a place for political capitalism.

Cities, World Empires, World Systems For Weber, independent city, multiplicity of cities, interstitial nature of

cities, remains in capitalism in the form of multiplicity of nation states. Cities, “in contrast to antiquity they came under the power of competing

national states in a condition of perpetual struggle for power in peace or war. This competitive struggle created the largest opportunities for modern western capitalism. The separate states had to compete for mobile capital, which dictated to them the conditions under which it would assist them to power. Out of this alliance of state with capital, dictated by necessity, arose the national citizen class, the bourgeoisie in the modern sense of the word. Hence it is the closed national state which afforded capitalism its chance for development—and as long as the national state does not give place to a world empire capitalism also will endure.

Weberian influence on World Systems Sociology Wallerstein;’s definition of world system as on global division of labor and

multiplicity of states is actually from Weber. For Weber, international system of states where states have to compete for

“mobile capital” is definitional of capitalism. CF. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice, 1930- Title: The modern world-system I :

capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century [by] Immanuel Wallerstein. Published/distributed: New York, Academic Press [1974] Physical description: xiv, 410 p. illus. 25 cm.

Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice, 1930- Title: The modern world-system II : mercantilism and the consolidation of the European world-economy, 1600-1750 / Immanuel Wallerstein. Published/distributed: New York : Academic Press, c1980. Physical description: xi, 370 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice, 1930- Title: The modern world-system III : the second era of great expansion of the capitalist world-economy, 1730-1840s / Immanuel Wallerstein. Published/distributed: San Diego : Academic Press, c1989. Physical description: xi, 372 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Specificities of the West: Rational State THE RATIONAL STATE The rational state has existed only in the western world In China, mandarins existed above a society which they did not

transform, the broken power of the clans and industrial guilds remained, mandarin is an outsider, they are humanists, nor really “ rational” administrators in the modern sense

“ Very different is the rational state in which alone modern capitalism can flourish. Its basis is an expert officialdom and rational law.”

China, persistence of magic, power of clans could not be broken, as happened in the occident through the development of the cities and of Christianity.

Two roots here: Law in Christianity from Law in Judaism, origins of rationality there

Law in the Roman sense, “ rationalization of procedure.”

Specificities of the West: Rational State However, England, the home of capitalism, never accepted Roman Law,

for the reason that in connection with the royal courts existed a class of advocates who guarded the national legal institutions against corruption. This class controlled the development of legal doctrine, for from its ranks were chosen, and they still are, the judges. It prevented Roman law from being taught in English Universities, in order that persons from outside the class might nor reach the judicial bench.”

[I don’t understand the distinction between “ material legal system” and “ rational legal system”] pp. 342

“ In every theocracy and every absolutism justice is materially directed as by contrast in every bureaucracy it is formal-legalistic,”

[…] the Roman law was the means of crushing the material legal system in favor of the formal.”

Specificities of the West: Rational State We have seen that Mandarins were not rational to Weber, “ India also had

writers but no trained jurists,” in contrast the western world had at its disposal a formally organized legal system, the product of the Roman genius, and officials trained in this law were superior to all others as technical administrators. From the standpoint of economic history this fact is significant in that the alliance between the state and formal jurisprudence was indirectly favorable to capitalism.” P. 343

[Too much emphasis on bureaucratic rationality. English case has no Roman Law, neither does the U.S. (Louisiana excepted….) so what is the point. In fact, settler colonies had a VERY WEAK rational state and a very strong settler society, so what role does this play in development of capitalism in US, for example? Is this a German affectation?]

Specificities of the West: Mercantilism MERCANTILISM I.E importance of trade, after telling us that the

colonial system was not important (see last lecture) now we are told that the EXTERNAL conditions for the development of capitalism are “ FIRSTGEOGRAPHICAL IN CHARACTER,” because European conditions facilitated commerce, but this conditions cannot be exaggerated, because civilization of antiquity was eminently coastal, but “ Capitalism, in the west was born in the industrial cities of the interior, not in the cities which were centers of sea trade.” P. 354

Specificities of the West: Mercantilism The essence of mercantilism consists in carrying the

point of view of capitalistic industry into politics; the state is handled as if it consisted exclusively of capitalistic entrepreneurs. External economic policy rests on the principle of taking every advantage of the opponent, importing at the lowest price and selling much higher. The purpose is to strengthen the hands of the government in its external relations. Hence mercantilism signifies the development of the state as a political power, which is to be done directly by increasing the tax paying power of the population.” P. 347

Comments on Mercantilism VERY VAGUE and general definition of mercantilism,

which DOES NOT coincide with the normal usage of the term in economic history;

Mercantilism or “ l’exclusif” as it was called among the French, had to do with monopolistic colonial trading policy, did have an emphasis on retaining precious metals by exporting more and importing less, and by keeping the trade with the colony for the metropolis, in 1600s and 1700s, in fact until the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the advent of Free Trade.

Weber’s meaning probably refers to economic rationalization of the state, or economic rationalization of state / capital relation.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CAPITALISTIC SPIRIT We have seen this already, briefly: 1)Evolution rationality in Judaism 2) transfer of rationality to Christianity which universalizes

Jewish rationality by breaking down the internal/external barriers implicit in relation Jew/Gentile

3) then economic rationality and ethic in monasteries 4) and finally, generalization of monastic life: “Thus Sebastian Franck was correct in summing up the spirit

of the Reformation in these words,” you think you have escaped the monastery, but everyone must now be a monk throughout his life.”

Specificities of the West

“ In the last resort the factor which produced capitalism is the rational permanent enterprise, rational accounting, rational technology and rational law, but again not these alone. Necessary complementary factors were the rational spirit, the rationalization of the conduct of life in general, and a rationalistic economic ethic.” P. 354

According to Weber, the western city is A) similar to the cities of Asia B) exactly like the cities of Japan C) a unique combination of political equality

and autonomy from seigneurial power D) essential to the emergence of modern

capitalist society E) C and D

According to Weber’s General Economic History, a rationalistic economic ethic

A) is the essential condition for the emergence of capitalism B) has only existed in capitalist society C) is a necessary complementary factor in the emergence of

capitalism D) can only come about thanks to the Calvinist, Protestant

Ethic E) is actually an impediment to the development of

capitalism