FREE ESSAY ON EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY

EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY

Jeffrey Dachman
Sociology 485
Rubenstein
9/12/00
The Evolution of Society
During the time of the feudal system, the government was at a standstill. The Catholic
Church had the final word on how things would work. People were born into a certain role
in life, and there was nothing the citizens could do about it. The king ruled over
everyone, the lords over the knights, and the knights over the serfs. This all changed
through the works of Martin Luther. Martin Luther was the man who started the religions
of Protestantism. He was a member of one of the Christian churches deriving from the
Reformation. The Reformation started in the 16th century when Martin Luther came to the
Catholic Church and challenged their rule. He thought that people should be able to
increase their production in life. The fact is they were able to work because that is
what G-d wanted them to do, and also to be able to make money because this was a sign of
grace. Max Weber explains the resulting Protestant Ethic in his book The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism in which he shows how the Protestant reformation changed our
society into the capitalistic regime it is today.
Everything was stable in the Catholic regime. People had their jobs. People would grow up
knowing they would be a locksmith or a shoe man, and that was the job that they
accomplished. No locksmith made more than any other locksmith though. The Catholic Church
found it sinful to make more of a profit than anyone else in the industry. If a carpenter
decided to raise his cost one-day the Catholic Church would reprimand them. If a shoe man
decided he would open an hour early and close an hour late this was also looked upon in
shame. This was a rigid society in which people could not achieve more even if they
wanted to, because their lives were predetermined.
"Remember, time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes
abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his
diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that only expense; he has really spent, or
rather thrown away, five shillings besides"(48). This was a problem for many people in
traditional times. Time is money, and if people are not allowed to work longer, or work
on days when others don't, like on a Sunday, then they are not making money. Throughout
history one man will always try to beat the rest. It was shameful in traditionalistic
views but that is what capitalistic society preaches to us. Work as hard as they can and
they will make more than everyone else. If a man could work seven days a week at ten
hours a day to make more than the man that works nine hours a day than he would.
Why was it so hard for traditionalistic views to be changed into capitalism? Capitalism
violates many human sensibilities in many ways. It violates some of our natural
attitudes, provokes criticism, and troubles many people. For the medieval Catholic,
purpose in this life is for salvation in the next. The Protestant said people could work
in this world and use it for salvation in the next world. There was a virtue in amassing
wealth. Work for the sake of work. Weber identifies the key turning point in the change
of views of Martin Luther. Martin Luther came up with the doctrine of one's "calling." He
looked at ordinary work as a task set by G-d. "The absolutely essential feeling of
obligation to one's job, and a cool self-control and frugality which enormously increase
performance provides the most favourable foundation for the conception of labour as an
end in itself, as a calling which is necessary to capitalism" (63). People don't have to
work because they want to. It is a task set by G-d Himself. Work had this religious value
to it, and a big problem with capitalism was the fact that medieval Catholics looked at
the idea of capitalism as evil. Anyone who makes a profit without accomplishing any
manual labor is committing a sin. The medieval Catholics looked upon merchants and money
loaners as illegitimate. They were being rewarded for no good reason. This also led to
the birth of the middle class, which also challenged feudalism.
According to John Calvin, who was the man who devised Calvinism, which came out of
Protestantism believed that "All creation, including of course the fact, as it
undoubtedly was for Calvin, that only a small proportion of men are chosen for eternal
grace, can have any meaning only as means to the glory and majesty of God. To apply
earthly standards of justice to His sovereign decrees is meaningless and an insult to His
Majesty, since He and He alone is free, i.e. is subject to no law" (103). Not every man
in this world is going to live a glorious life after death. No man can escape the law of
his present life. Work as they can, live their lives now and be free, because when they
pass on it may be all over. Calvinists thought they were the chosen people. They lived
their lives looking at predestination. What this means is that they believed their lives
were determined before they were born. If a man grew up to be successful then this was a
way of saying that they have been blessed by G-d. Everyone wanted to be looked at as
being accepted by G-d so everybody worked the best that they could so they would be
chosen by G-d. If someone were not successful, this would create great anxiety. Calvinism
was a very religious version of Protestantism. Work for G-d because work gives the people
a way to better themselves, and money was G-d's way of assigning grace. If they're doing
well it's because they're blessed by G-d.
What is the problem with capitalism? Why was it looked down upon? The capitalistic world
is an evil one. Out of the seven deadly sins: lust, greed, gluttony, and envy are all
aspects of capitalistic nature. The four sins of appetite, because that is what the
capitalistic world is: hunger for more. In this world today if someone wanted to try to
be better, they could. If a man works hard enough to go to school and start at the bottom
of the company, but works that much harder than the rest of his coworkers and keeps
getting promotions and raises, then one day he will be at the top. That is the power of
capitalism. If someone wants something they have the opportunity to go out and get it. It
is not like the communist society where everyone gets the same no matter how hard they
work. In communist Russia, if someone was a doctor who studied for years to get their
degree they will make the same as a garbage man who didn't even graduate high school.
Capitalism is a progress of the world. It shows that even in its nonbiblical ways it is a
better system for our society as a whole. It gives people a chance to succeed. In
feudalism, if someone is born a serf they will stay a serf for the rest of their lives
and never be able to become a better person financially and socially, which does help
people's lives physically and mentally. If a man aspires to the position of another than
they leave their position and disrupt society. However aspiration can be a diversion of
spiritual concerns according to the feudal Catholic regime. It can mess with the social
organism. Traditional societies are based on order and hierarchy. In today's society
people are encouraged to order themselves. There is no established scheme. If a man is
homeless they still have that opportunity to become something as long as they work hard
at what they are trying to accomplish. 
Asceticism played a big role in the change of traditionalistic views to modern
capitalistic views such as practicing self-denial especially for religious reasons.
Earlier many people did not want to succeed because of their ascetic beliefs. They
figured if they were to try and get out of the system then they would be persecuted by
the Catholic Church and by G-d after death. They wanted to live a sovereign life after
death. They feared hell tremendously. "For in a time in which the beyond meant
everything, when the social position of the Christian depended upon the admission to the
communion, the clergyman, through his ministry, Church discipline, and preaching,
exercised an influence which modern men are entirely unable to picture. In such a time
the religious forces which express themselves through such channels are the decisive
influences in the formation of national character"(155).
But, later, "Since asceticism undertook to remodel the world and to work out its ideals
in the world, material goods have gained out its ideals in the world, material good have
gained an increasingly and finally and inexorable power over the lives of men as at no
previous period in history"(181). In medieval times no one cared to have more than the
other. No one needed material things as a nice car, a watch, and jewelry. These material
goods are something that people need nowadays. People need nice clothes; they need to
have something no one else has. To get these things they have to work just that much
harder than the person next to them. Capitalistic society lets us have these things. They
are really of no worth to any of us. What is the loss of a diamond necklace if one that
was loved wore it, and now it is gone. The loved one is what is to worry about, not the
necklace, and that is a problem in today's society.
The fear is that as riches increase that religion will decrease. In a way this is true
because when people have lots of money to support themselves and buy themselves material
things they start to leave G-d. That is because these people feel they don't need G-d
anymore. People pray for things through their lives such as to get certain things and to
achieve certain things such as a car or to graduate from college. What happens after they
get that car or graduate college? They thank G-d and then never talk to Him again unless
they need something and that is not what G-d is about. G-d is about being there for Him
because He is the one that created you and if He wanted can terminate you. "The power of
religious asceticism provided him in addition with sober, conscientious, and unusually
industrious workmen, who clung to their work as to a life purpose willed by G-d"(177).
The Protestant reformation led to the separation between the church and the state because
they felt that G-d wanted them to work and be better people, to achieve salvation and to
be successful. Originally the Protestants were much more religious than the Catholics and
they wanted to live life under G-d and not through G-d, and this led to the secularism of
Europe.
Protestantism gave the world a view that it has never seen before. It showed people that
there could be a change in society. The change was when people decided to work harder to
achieve more. Work was good; it was what they believed G-d wanted from them.
Protestantism helped this world change into a capitalistic society. It helped build the
middle class. They didn't want to be the poorest or even the richest. They just wanted to
live happily, and that is what the Reformation brought for them.
Through all that as happened this change has showed the people of this world that in
reality capitalistic society is one of greed; to want more. To live in a capitalistic
society people must remember where they came from. They must remember that what they work
for, material goods, is not as important as family and friends. Martin Luther sparked a
huge movement in society. Was it for the better? That depends on the person.