The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism cover art

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

By: Max Weber
Narrated by: Monroe Clark McBride
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Max Weber's best-known and most controversial work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, first published in 1904, remains to this day powerful and fascinating. Weber's highly accessible style is just one of many reasons for his continuing popularity. The book contends that the Protestant ethic made possible and encouraged the development of capitalism in the West. Widely considered as the most informed work ever written on the social effects of advanced capitalism, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism holds its own as one of the most significant books of the 20th century. The book is one of those rare works of scholarship which no informed citizen can afford to ignore.

Public Domain (P)2017 Cherry Hill Publishing, LLC Classics Economic History Economics Religious Studies World Middle Ages Capitalism Socialism

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Wealth of Nations cover art
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life cover art
Pascendi Dominici Gregis cover art
Thus Spoke Zarathustra cover art
Beyond Good and Evil cover art
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money cover art
History of the Russian Revolution cover art
The Christian Mind cover art
Nature's God cover art
The Great Delusion cover art
The Civil War as a Theological Crisis cover art
Islam and Modernity cover art
Theory and History cover art
The Sublime Object of Ideology cover art
All That Is in God cover art
The Theory of Moral Sentiments cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
This is an important book, still very significant today but is not easy for the lay reader to fully comprehend on first listening - for me short listenings, say 30 minutes, every day and re-listening allowed me to grasp and consider what Weber is saying. The narrator assists the reader and does not get in the way, he has a voice that is smooth yet engaging. Keep in mind that the essay was written over 100 years ago.

This is an academic essay

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's one of those books that I should have read in college, but now I'm making up for it.

I listened and read at the same time, which meant that I had two ways of absorbing the text. This helped, because at times it isn't the easiest book in the world to understand. However, if you understand Weber's thesis before you get into it (it is well known these days) it shouldn't be too hard. The theology is a bit tough at times, so I would recommend some basic understanding of Protestant ideas before tackling it.

The real downside to the whole experience was Monroe's narration. I really find it difficult to listen to his gravelly, tired voice. Perhaps he should be in the business of narrating movie trailers, but definitely not modern interpretations of Protestant theology. He mispronounces words, slurs his speech, and misreads thought groups frequently throughout the book. At times, I gave up on the audiobook and just read. That way I could focus on the content more, instead of being distracted by poor narration.

Weber's work is a classic though, and should be read by anyone with an interest in the origins of capitalism.

Great Book, Awful Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read this for my degree rather than for enjoyment, and this no doubt had an effect on my views of the book. I found most of the chapters a drag; chapter 4 in particular is quite impenetrable to someone lacking in-depth theological knowledge. Nevertheless, Chapter 5 pulls the book together well. Overall though, I really would not recommend the book as enjoyable reading, but then again that was not my purpose in reading it.

To fellow English listeners, it is also worth noting that the American narrator's accent is mildly infuriating.

Happy reading.

A dull read, interesting only in its final chapter

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am suffering to finish this book. As much as I am interested in the subject, it is written & read so monotonously so it's a struggle to stick with it.

Tedious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So boring book
The reading was really good but the book itself is so boring

Boring book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.