ABSTRACT
The revenge ethic and the spirit of capitalism The social theorist Max Weber (1864-1920) applied the term ‘usage’ (Branch) to regularities in human conduct. Some conduct is regular because people derive advantages from the regularity, e.g. a fisherman who returns to a spot where the fish often bite or a salesman who calls on customers at regular intervals. Some regularities are sustained because they simplify the organization of life: they cut down the time spent making decisions, help to co-ordinate activities with other people, and generate the satisfactions of conformity. A regularity (e.g. in matters of dress) that is known to have arisen recently and is followed partly for its novelty is a ‘fashion’ (Mode). A long-standing regularity is a custom (Sitte) (Weber 1978:29).
