The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth. By Liah Greenfeld. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. xi, 541. $45.00

John A. Hall

The Journal of Economic History, 2003, vol. 63, issue 1, 300-302

Abstract: The title of this book attests to the fact that the author “communed” with Max Weber's famous thesis whilst doing her own research. She is absolutely at one with Weber—and Keynes!—in insisting that there is a spirit of capitalism, an irrationality underlying rational calculation whereby one continues to work even when one's needs have been met. Spirit of this sort is held to be a cultural idiosyncracy rather than an a universal norm. However, this spirit has nothing to do with religion, not least for the central reason given by Tawney—namely that Protestant reformers sought to control the economy quite as much as did their predecessors. The author offers us a bold and sustained alternative view: economic growth resulted from one thing and one thing only—the presence of nationalism.

Date: 2003
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