The essays contained in this volume are dealing with the relationship between ascetic Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism written by Max Weber in the period from 1904 to 1920.

In 1920 Max Weber began to publish his "Collected Essays on the Sociology of Religion" . In his "Preliminary Remarks" he declared as the collection's aim to identify the distinctiveness of Western - especially modern Western - rationalism and to explain its rise. These "Preliminary Remarks" were followed by reworked essays on ascetic Protestantism, which had originally appeared between 1904 and 1906. While he practically rewrote the essay on the sects of 1906, he stayed close to the original of his famous 1904/05 study "The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism", although he made many amendments for its renewed publication. In this edition, these amendments are easily identified by their different typeface. Together with essays taken over from MWG I/9, for the first time this book provides all the essays on the cultural significance of ascetic Protestantism written by Max Weber in the period from 1904 to 1920.

Autorentext
Geboren 1864 in Erfurt; Studium der Jurisprudenz, Geschichte, Nationalökonomie und Philosophie in Heidelberg, Berlin und Göttingen; 1889 Promotion über die Geschichte der Handelsgesellschaften im Mittelalter; 1891 Habilitationsschrift über Römische Agrargeschichte; Ordinarius für Nationalökonomie in Freiburg (ab 1894) und Heidelberg (ab 1897); Mitherausgeber des Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik und Redakteur des Grundriß der Sozialökonomik; umfassende Beiträge zur Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften, zur Politik des deutschen Kaiserreichs, zu Wirtschaft, Politik, Religion, Recht und Kunst in universalgeschichtlicher Perspektive; nach langem, krankheitsbedingtem Interim schließlich Professor für Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Nationalökonomie in München (ab 1919); gestorben 1920 in München.