What has happened to the Protestant Ethic, in the United States today? Is it alive and well, or has it been replaced by a different Ethic? Develop your position in several well-supported paragraphs.
The Protestant Ethic (work ethic) is alive and well in America today. We can see this in the fact that people still work many hours continuing to be torn between family and work. However the compulsion to work has clearly become a problem in modern industrial societies. People are working long hours, devoting their lives to making or doing things that will not enrich their lives or make them happier. They are so busy doing this or that they have little time to spend with their family and friends, to develop other aspects of themselves, or to participate in their communities. Marx predicted that the division of labor in the work force would creat a cold indifferent atmosphere, and the Protestant Ethic would be the blame for it. .
The Protestant Ethic as Weber would say it, was a religious calling and a duty commanded by God. Weber quotes the Bible as follows: "Gods commandment to Adam "in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread" (Gen. 3:19) and "If anyone will not work , let him not eat" (2 Thess. 3:10) By this, work was promoted as route to success, and a sign of good character. The difference is, work isn't motivated by a religious calling, it's motivated by the need to aquire material posessions. Of course, this has almost the same effect for most people as they continued to develop ambition, hard work, self-reliance, and self discipline. Over time we have replaced a religious calling with materialist motivation, due to basic societal changes. The basic motivation is still there, in the fact that we do need food, shelter, and clothing . Going beyond that we see our massive desire for continued materialism.
Some say the society is taking away the motivation to work by providing welfare programs.