Evolution Of Society

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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 so...

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