nach oben

Erschienen in:

2017 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

2. The Book and the Spirits of Capitalism

verfasst von : Vassili Joannidès de Lautour

Erschienen in: Accounting, Capitalism and the Revealed Religions

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

As it is commonly agreed that accounting and capitalism were born and have developed coincidentally, this chapter shows how each of the book’s four religions has accompanied the advancement of capitalism. The chapter is grounded in the sociology of religions and rests its argument upon its major thinkers. Judaism has accompanied the development of merchants’ capitalism and contemporary financial practices. Roman Catholicism has been at the origin of property management and estate promotion. Protestantism is the incarnation of the spirit of industrious capitalism. Lastly, Islam is the foundation of social capitalism. Once this is established the reader can easily understand how accounting is grounded in religion, which is further developed in Chap. 3.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Vorheriges Kapitel Introduction

Nächstes Kapitel The Book as the Spirits of Accounting

When first published in 1911, The Jews and Modern Capitalism was considered as a philo-Semitic book. Sombart endeavoured to explain how the exclusion of Jews from citizenship throughout Europe led them to construct their belonging to society on different bases. Nowadays, a few Jewish scholars regard Sombart’s work in accordance with his later enrolment in National Socialism and take it as being anti-Semitic. The present chapter takes it as it was first intended, in other words regardless of Sombart’s later political shift and engagement.

Nowadays, the new spirit of capitalism, as connected to globalisation, seems to do justice to Sombart’s views. Globalisation consists of companies operating everywhere. It has become commonplace to deem international trade as a phenomenon of the twentieth century. In that respect, the new spirit of capitalism is much indebted to the history of the Jewish people and of Judaism.

For instance, Franciscans have always argued that poverty would make people more attentive to religious matters. According to Franciscans, goods owners would be more concerned about shielding their property than about being pleasing to God. In the same vein, Benedictines have defended poverty. Once rid of any property, the individual is rid of any worry. He is able to study full-time God’s words.

In Davidson’s and Ekelund Jr.’s (1997) article, the theory of interest is metaphorically applied to the evaluation of provisional rents. The Church accounted for people from their birth unto their death. Its leaders had insights into the fecundity rate of couples and into mortality. They were able to know how many living children a couple would have. The rents from one couple could be multiplied by the expected amount of offspring and their ability to pay the same rent. In brief, to Michaud, the resources of the Roman Catholic Church had followed a geometrical trend. Moreover, worldwide missionary expansion has permitted an arithmetical trend too.

Nowadays, similar rewards from the company’s equity are the counterpart of acknowledged effort of performance. Such practices uphold individual accumulation of capital on the basis of the pursuit of the common good. Today incentives utilised in companies seem to play a similar role. In a similar way to how Jewish people held the spirit of capitalism, Catholic theologies have surprisingly led to capitalistic practices.

Aho, J. (2005). Confession and bookkeeping—The religious, moral, and rhetorical roots of modern accounting. New York: State University of New York Press.

Aqbal, Z., & Mirakhor, A. (2006). Introduction to Islamic finance: Theory and practice. London: John Wiley & Sons.

Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (1999). Le nouvel esprit du Capitalisme. Paris: La Découverte.

Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (2006). The new spirit of capitalism. London: Verso.

Bryer, R. (2000a). The history of accounting and the transition to capitalism in England. Part one: Theory. Accounting Organizations and Society, 25(2), 131–162.CrossRef

Bryer, R. (2000b). The history of accounting and the transition to capitalism in England. Part two: Evidence. Accounting Organizations and Society, 25(4–5), 327–381.CrossRef

Bryer, R. A. (1993). Double-entry bookkeeping and the birth of capitalism: Accounting for the commercial revolution in medieval Northern Italy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 4(2), 113–140.CrossRef

Carruthers, B. G., & Espeland, W. N. (1991). Accounting for rationality: Double-entry bookkeeping and the rhetoric of economic rationality. The American Journal of Sociology, 97(1), 31–69.CrossRef

Chiapello, E. (2007). Accounting and the birth of the notion of Capitalism. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 18(3), 263–296.CrossRef

Crone, P. (2004). Meccan trade and the rise of Islam. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Davidson, A., & Ekelund Jr., R. (1997). The medieval church and rents from marriage market regulations. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 32, 215–245.CrossRef

Deeg, R. (2009). The rise of internal capitalist diversity? Changing patterns of finance and corporate governance in Europe. Economy and Society, 38(4), 552–579.CrossRef

Derks, H. (2008). Religion, capitalism and the rise of double-entry bookkeeping. Accounting Business and Financial History, 18(2), 187–213.CrossRef

Duby, G. (1979). Saint Bernard: l’art cistércien. Paris: Flammarion.

Gambling, T., & Karim, R. A. (1991). Business and accounting ethics in Islam. London: Continuum International Publishing.

Hallman, B. (1985). Italian cardinals, reform and the church as property. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Iqbal, Z. (1997). Islamic financial systems. Finance and Development, 34(2), 42–45.

Lane, C., & Geoffrey, W. (2009). Capitalist diversity and diversity within capitalism. Economy and Society, 38(4), 531–551.CrossRef

Maltby, J. (1997). Accounting and the soul of the middle-class: Gustav Freytag’s Soll und Haben. Accounting Organizations and Society, 22(1), 69–87.CrossRef

McKernan, J. F., & Kosmala, K. (2004). Accounting, love and justice. Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, 17(3), 327–360.CrossRef

McKernan, J. F., & Kosmala, K. (2007). Doing the truth: Religion—Deconstruction—Justice, and accounting. Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, 20(5), 729–764.CrossRef

McPhail, K., & Walters, D. (2009). Accounting and business ethics—An introduction. London: Routledge.

Michaud, C. (1991). L’Eglise et l’argent sous l’Ancien Régime—Les receveurs généraux du clergé de France aux XVIè—XVIIIè siècles. Paris: Fayard.

Miller, P., & Napier, C. (1993). Genealogies of calculation. Accounting Organizations and Society, 18(7–8), 631–647.CrossRef

Quattrone, P. (2009). Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(1), 85–118.CrossRef

Rodinson, M. (1966). Islam and capitalism. London: Saqi Essentials.

Sombart, W. (1911). The Jews and modern capitalism. Kitchener, ON: Batoche Books Limited.

Taqi-Usmani, M. (2002). An introduction to Islamic finance (Arab and Islamic laws). Boston, MA: CQ Press.

Tinker, A. M. (2004). The enlightenment and its discontents: Antinomies of Christianity, Islam and the calculative sciences. Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, 17(3), 442–475.CrossRef

Weber, M. (1921). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Routledge.

Weber, M. (1922). Economy and society. Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press.

Zubair, H. (1983). Theory of profit: The Islamic viewpoint. Journal of Research on Islamic Economics, 1(1), 3–14.

Titel: The Book and the Spirits of Capitalism
verfasst von: Vassili Joannidès de Lautour
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Accounting, Capitalism and the Revealed Religions
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32332-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-32333-6

Copyright-Jahr: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32333-6_2