A foundational goal for this analytical essay is to identify metatheoretical claims in the primary texts themselves and be able to develop an exposition of those claims in the context of the question below:
How is Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism considered a critique of Marx’s theories of capitalism? Include specific quotations from the text to support your essay. Explain the theoretical orientation specific to Weber that led him to conclude that it’s not purely the material conditions of society, but also the “ideal interests” of a society that shapes the specific expression of capitalism in the west.
Answer the question. – but use it as a creative jumping off point for your own thesis statement. • Papers are about the texts, you are expected to analyse and explain the way these arguments and methods are used by the authors we cover, not to explain the meaning of life.
This is a 4-page formal analytical theory paper. Please spend time reading primary texts before writing this paper as theory papers can tend to take a bit longer than more empirical papers. Take notes, build outlines, construct a clear argument that is a creative synthesis and analysis of the ideas in the text. Be sure to develop systematically a thesis or question about the text using the primary text. The goal of this essay is to engage in the primary text in a way that synthesizes the material given in lectures, secondary textbook readings and the primary text. Even though these are seemingly straight forward questions, you should avoid pure summary and description, but develop theoretical analytical points, argue carefully, and extract the theoretical orientations that prefigure empirical claims. Even if the question does not include metatheoretical terms, you must demonstrate your understanding of these terms in the context of the thinkers we are analyzing. Justify claims you make with specific reference to the primary text, textbook summaries, or PPTs from lectures either with an inline quotation, longer sentence quotations, or citation indicating a paraphrase from a specific section of the text.