Abstract
The article aims to highlight the topicality of the old controversy between Werner Sombart and Max Weber upon the origins of Western capitalism. Is its emergence explained by an universal passion for luxury and money or by the advent of new religious forms favorable toward saving and investment? The article shows that what characterizes capitalism today is the extreme variety of the life forms, and therefore the fragmentation of the forms of personality, which can favor capitalism or be absorbed in it. This observation provides the means to evaluate, with a fresh look, the conclusions of one of the most famous and constitutive discussions in the history of modern European sociology.
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Haber, S. Beyond Character: Werner Sombart, Max Weber and the Question of the Subjective Roots of Participation in Capitalism. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 10, 473–483 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-017-0194-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-017-0194-7