BUS 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Protestant Work Ethic, Meritocracy, Protestantism

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Business Administration
• Course: BUS 303
• Professor: Michaela Lucas

Document Summary

The cultural contradictions of capitalism daniel bell. Bell explores the relationship between a civilization"s socioeconomic structure and its culture. Capitalism promotes consumption and a hedonistic approach to life. However, it rests, at the same time, a protestant or puritan work ethic of delayed gratification in the area of production. That capitalism promotes pleasure and play in the area of consumption has contributed to a loss of social authority for the protestant value system. American capitalism, as i have sought to show, has lost its traditional legitimacy which was based on a moral system of reward, rooted in a protestant sanctification of work. It has substituted in its place a hedonism which promises a material ease and luxury (664) The characteristic style of an industrialized society is based on the principles of economics and economizing; on efficiency, least cost, maximization, optimization, and functional rationality.