24 June 2014 ~ Tuesday / intro to Religion ~

Marx’s “historical materialism” Weber emphasized the importantce of cultural influences embedded in religion as a means for understanding the geneis sof capitalism.

According to Weber, Marx was incorrect about the motivations people have for talking advantage (or not) of the material conditions of their lives.

2 opping views emerge from Marx & Weber ~

Marx ~ religion produced a calming/numbing effect upon the people which caused them to accept the material conditions of their lives and their tolerance of it as a sign of their suffering in the material world

Weber ~ suggests, that within the Protestant mindset, a combination of denying themselves enjoyment of their earnings and wealth and continually working hard demonstrated their election by God

Unmensch) , where he seeks and must seek his true reality j…

Thend only the reflection of himself in the fantstic reality of heaven, where he sought a superman, will no longer feel disposed to find the mere appearance of himself, tghe non-man (

The foundation of irreligious criticism is :  Man makes religion, religion does not make man, Religion is indeed,

hinduism ~ Vedic traditions

m_aya ~ illusion/ adman / Brahman (PRIEST) / dharma ~ duty /

caste = varna  OR ( JATI )   

Devi’ ~ baby boy / Deva ~ baby girl / Human varna = Brahmans = priests / Ksa’triyas - warriors / Vaisnavas ~ merchants / Sudras - servants (majority) / & then we have the UNTOUCHABLES!

Karl Marx,  (Emile Durkheim)

German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist
his ideas influenced social theory, social reserach and the entire discipline of sociology
Weber is often cited, with Durkheim and Karl Marx as among the 3 founding creators of sociology
argued for studying of actions in the social realm via interpretation (rather than purely empiricist) means
also argued that his study should be based on understanding the purpose & meaning that individuals attach to their own actions
Weber's main intellectual concern was understanding the processes of rationalization, secularization, and 
"disenchantment"
Weber viewed these things as associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity
he saw all this as resulting from new modes of thinking about the world beginning during the Enlightment
The Protestant Ethic
Weber is best known for his thesis combining evonomic sociology and the sociology of religion
This is the basis for this book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he proposed that ascetic Protestantism was one of the major "elective affinities" associated with the rise in Europe and the U.S. of market-driven capitalism and the rational legal nation-state.
The Protestant Ethic formed the earliest part in Weber's broader investigation into world religion he would go on to examine the religion of China, India and ancient Judaism, with particular regard to the apparent non-development of capitalism in the corresponding societies, as well as to their differing forms of social stratification.
   "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence that determines