‘Weber's Thesis' and the Restoration of Capitalism in Baltic Countries

Max Weber believed that capitalist economic system will not last forever and participated (in 1918–20) in the incipient debate on the political and economic viability of socialism. He did not consider a situation of restoration of capitalism, but this did happen. The chapter explores the relevance of Weber’s economic sociology for post-communist transition studies, focusing on his most famous idea, known as “Weber thesis”. Former socialist countries cluster into cases of political (“bad”) and rational (“good”) capitalism. Last cluster includes countries with largest shares of survivors from pre-communist capitalism, demonstrating the power of surviving “spirit of capitalism” or capitalist economic ethic. In two Baltic countries (Estonia and Latvia), it descends from the Protestant ethic, spread in 18th–19th centuries by Pietist Herrnhuter (Moravian Brethren) movement, considered by Weber as a variety of “ascetic Protestantism”. Its legacy contributed to conspicuous success of capitalist economic modernization of Estonia and Latvia in late 19th–early 20th century and helps to account for economic performance differences across Baltic countries during early phase of capitalist restoration

Capitalism · Economic system · Economics · Political science · Politics · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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