▁was ▁resolved , ▁We ber ▁argued , ▁was ▁the ▁invest ment ▁of ▁this ▁money , ▁which ▁gave ▁an ▁extreme ▁boost ▁to ▁nas cent ▁capital ism . ▁ ▁The ▁Protest ant ▁work ▁eth ic ▁in ▁We ber ' s ▁time ▁ ▁By ▁the ▁time ▁We ber ▁wrote ▁his ▁ess ay , ▁he ▁believed ▁that ▁the ▁religious ▁under p inn ings ▁of ▁the ▁Protest ant ▁eth ic ▁had ▁largely ▁gone ▁from ▁society . ▁He ▁c ited ▁the ▁writ ings ▁of ▁Benjamin ▁Franklin , ▁which ▁emphas ized ▁f rug ality , ▁hard ▁work ▁and ▁thr ift , ▁but ▁were ▁mostly ▁free ▁of ▁spiritual ▁content . ▁We ber ▁also ▁attributed ▁the ▁success ▁of ▁mass ▁production ▁partly ▁to ▁the ▁Protest ant ▁eth ic . ▁Only ▁after ▁expensive ▁lux uries ▁were ▁dis d ained ▁could ▁individuals ▁accept ▁the ▁uniform ▁products , ▁such ▁as ▁clothes ▁and ▁furn iture , ▁that ▁industrial ization ▁offered . ▁ ▁In ▁his ▁conclusion ▁to ▁the ▁book , ▁We ber ▁l ament ed ▁that ▁the ▁loss ▁of ▁religious ▁under pin ning ▁to ▁capital ism ' s ▁spirit ▁has ▁led ▁to ▁a ▁kind ▁of ▁invol unt ary ▁serv itude ▁to ▁mechan ized ▁industry . ▁ ▁We ber ▁maintained ▁that ▁while ▁Pur itan ▁religious ▁ideas ▁had ▁significantly ▁impact ed ▁the ▁development ▁of ▁economic ▁system ▁in ▁Europe ▁and ▁United ▁States , ▁there ▁were ▁other ▁factors ▁in ▁play , ▁as ▁well . ▁They ▁included ▁a ▁closer ▁relationship ▁between ▁mathematics ▁and ▁observation , ▁the ▁en hanced ▁value ▁of ▁scholar ship , ▁rational ▁system at ization ▁of ▁government ▁administration , ▁and ▁an