First published in 1905 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is one of the most renowned and controversial works of modern social science. It is a brilliant book which studies the psychological conditions which made possible the development of capitalist civilization.

Max Weber (1864-1920) was a key figure in the development of the social sciences and wrote many works in the fields of sociology, politics, economics and law. In the course of his career he taught at the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg and Munich.

Stephen Kalberg is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. He is the co-chair of the German Study Group at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University, and the author of Max Weber's Comparative-Historical Sociology (Polity Press, 1994).