ABSTRACT
Max Weber was a child of the Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm: an imperial and imperialist nation, cultured and rich, and with the best universities of the day. Throughout his intellectual life, beginning with Die Protestantische Etik und der Geist des Kapitalismus Weber sought the deeper roots of capitalism, and the ways in which faith in God and faith in Mammon have interacted in the development of capitalism. Rationalization is a double star toward which development guides us: first, the multifarious nature of human thought is arranged in orderly systems. Secondly, the large repertoire of human action is arranged in orderly institutions. Weber specifies the concept of "life spheres" for developed societies: the economic, political, religious, intellectual, and erotic spheres. Each of these is matched by a value sphere of particular priorities. Rational capitalism is a way of organizing society so that the bulk of individual and group needs are satisfied by private enterprises run according to long-term principles of profitability.
