But hardly an original insight. This is the same basic argument that Richard Tawney made in "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism" in 1926. And before Tawney, Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," published in 1904 and 1905, which argues that capitalism in northern Europe evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic "influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment," as opposed to conspicuous consumption. In other words, "the Protestant work ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism."
The Chinese appear to be reinventing the wheel.
“The Chinese appear to be reinventing the wheel.”
Good on them. It seems like it needs reinventing from time to time.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell
:D