Protestant Work Ethic

Today's crisis in the global financial markets has produced much soul searching about the culture of greed which seems to permeate our society. At the beginning of the last century the German sociologist, Max Weber, proposed that there was a direct link between the Protestant Reformation and the rise in capitalism. And specifically, that hard work, combined with a moral attitude towards wealth, was directly linked to salvation. So is the loss of religious faith across the West linked to the current crisis in capitalism? Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the Protestant Work Ethic are Lord Andrew Mawson, social entrepreneur, cross bench peer & minister in the United Reformed Church; Professor Sam Whimster, Fellow in the Centre for Advanced Study at the University of Bonn, and Jonathan Wittenberg, Rabbi of New North London Synagogue.