Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:47:06.246Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religious Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in Tunisia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Russell A. Stone
Russell A. Stone
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Buffalo
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The relationship between religion and entrepreneurial activity has been an ongoing subject of sociological interest since Weber (1958) first identified the association between Protestantism and the rise of capitalism in Western Europe. One recent collection of papers on the subject (Eisenstadt, 1968) indicates that the topic remains highly controversial, and that the debate moves in two general directions. Some analysts challenge (or support) the factual and/or theoretical validity of Weber's analysis as it applies to Western Europe, or to Protestantism (Green, 1959). Another branch of research attempts to apply the idea on a different level, finding other religious groups for which the theory is valid, in other parts of the world. Most such studies have been made in East and Southeast Asia, but there is a scattering of articles on other countries as well (Eisenstadt, 1968). Bellah (1963) cites several studies of merchant groups in Asia which conform to the Protestant ethic pattern, but points out that they seldom transform the norms of the whole society as Protestantism did in parts of Europe. Their impact is limited to a subgroup within society. These studies suggest that the Weberian thesis might apply on an intra-societal level in cultures different from Europe. The present study attempts to support this idea by positing a relationship between religious ethic and capitalism among a group of merchants in Tunisia who are members of a distinct religious sect within Islam.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , June 1974 , pp. 260 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

‘Abadites’ (1913). Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. I, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar
Becker, Howard (1940). Constructive Typology in the Social Sciences. In Contemporary Social Theories, ed. Barnes, Harry E. et al. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Becker, Howard (1956). Man in Reciprocity. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Bellah, Robert N. (1963). Reflections on the Protestant Ethic Analogy in Asia. Journal of Social Issues, vol. XIX (I), pp. 52–60. (Reprinted in Eisenstadt, 1968.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodrick, Alan H. (1943). Parts of Barbary. London: Hutchison.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile (1964). The Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Eisenstadt, S. N. (ed.) (1968). The Protestant Ethic and Modernization. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Geilner, Ernest (1963). Sanctity, Puritanism, Secularization, and Nationalism in North Africa. Archives de Sociologie des Religions, vol. VIII (15), pp. 71–86. (Reprinted in Eisenstadt, 1968.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerth, HansH. and Mills, C. Wright (1946). From Max Weber. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goode, William J. and Hart, Paul K. (1952). Methods in Social Research. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Green, Robert W. (ed.) (1959). Protestantism and Capitalism. Boston: Heath.Google Scholar
Marty, G. (1948). A Tunis: Eléments allogènes et activités professionelles. Revue I.B.L.A., vol. XI (42), pp. 159–88.Google Scholar
Nisbet, Robert A. (1966). The Sociological Tradition. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Nisbet, Robert A. (1969). Social Change and History. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parsons, Talcott (1968). The Structure of Social Action (1937). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rinder, Irwin D. (1958). Strangers in the Land: Social Relations in the Status Gap. Social Problems, vol. 6, no. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmel, Georg (1950). The Stranger. The Sociology of Georg Simmel (trans. Wolff, Kurt H.), pp. 402–8. Glencoe: Free Press.Google Scholar
Stone, Russell A. (1970). Social Change in Commercial Organization: A Tunisian Case Study. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Stone, Russell A. (1971). Tunisian Cooperatives: Failure of a Bold Experiment. Africa Report, no. 16 (06), pp. 19–22.Google Scholar
Stablo, René (1941). Les Djerbiens. Tunis and Paris: S.A.P.I.Google Scholar
Stryker, Sheldon (1959) Social Structure and Prejudice. Social Problems, vol. 6, no. 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tlatli, S. E. (1942). Djerba et les Djerbiens. Tunis.Google Scholar
Tunisia, (1966). Recensement générale de la population et des logements. Tunis: Secretariat of State for Planning and National Economy.Google Scholar
Weber, Max (1958). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Scribner's.Google Scholar
Weber, Max (1964a). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Max (1964b). The Sociology of Religion (1922), trans. Fischoff, Ephraim. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Irving M. (1967). Marxism, A Re-examination. Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Irving M. (1968). Ideology and the Development of Sociological Theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar