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In his landmark workThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), the German sociologist Max Weber offered a radical and sweeping explanation for the rise of modern capitalism. He saw capitalism arise first in Protestant countries so, contrary to the Marxist explanation, Weber claimed that it was Protestantism that drove the transformation to capitalism. He paid particular attention to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, which holds that God determines, at the beginning of time, if each human is saved or damned. How could such a stark theological idea lead to capitalism? According to Weber, it introduced an extraordinarily productive tension into human society. While people could not change their souls’ fate, they could hope to see evidence that they might be among the saved through the discipline and fruitfulness of their labour. This brief animation from BBC Radio 4’s A History of Ideas series explores how Calvinism sanctified work, making everyday labour, for the first time in history, a potentially holy activity.
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Nature and landscape
California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker
10 minutes
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Love and friendship
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone
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Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
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Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
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History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
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Animals and humans
Join seabirds as they migrate, encountering human communities along the way
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Stories and literature
Two variants of a Hindu myth come alive in an animated ode to Indian storytelling
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Technology and the self
The commodified childhood – scenes from two sisters’ lives in the creator economy
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Fairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
10 minutes