I think these days most agree with Max Weber that Protestant regions had multiple advantages over Catholic regions with respect to capitalism.
The debate within sociology has not been about that; rather it's about the causation issue. Does religion, any religion, have any strong, first order, causative effect on economics? Not settled; probably never will be settled. Most arguments, however, that make sense to me, hedge the argument, nuance it, if you please, to add multiple variables and then find they cannot weight them.
If, for instance, you break religious belief systems down into certain components likely to have some effect on economic activity, rank religions by their presence or absence; then add in the presence of a monetary system, trading systems, certain urban settlements as hot beds of economic innovation, etc., you can list all the likely relevant factors. But, without some sort of serious comparative analysis frame, you cannot weight them. And that's the trick.
Sorry to go on so long. |
