Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper aims to retrace the thought of a classic of sociology, Werner Sombart, in relation to the theme of religious origins of the capitalistic spirit. It analyzes Jewish contribution to the capitalistic spirit’s origins and development, through the variables and the conceptual categories used by the Author in his different works. The focus is concentrated on ethics religiously based by which Jewish community may have contributed to a certain economic orientation. It tries to understand the meaning and significance of Jewish religious spirit and its cultural matrix, through critical analysis of the Author’s thought about this topic, which has, to date, no appropriate representation in the literature. It tries, moreover, to underline the newness of his thought relative to the religious dimension’s centrality for the capitalism’s origin. It aims, finally, to think about the role of Jewish ethics in the period of advanced capitalism.