This paper examines how in his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism", Max Weber brings together material
published in the form of two long
articles in 1904 and 1905. It looks at how in these articles Weber tries to show the beginnings of
capitalism and to relate this to the spirit of the Reformation, when Protestantism developed, breaking away from the control of the Catholic Church asserted a religious independence and a different social view that had an influence on economic matters. It discusses how Weber finds that there is a connection between being Protestant and being a business leader and an owner of capital since statistics show this to be a fact in his own time and also to be a historical fact.