- Puritan idea: you can succeed with hard work and the help of God
- BUT theory of predestination also: Max Weber
- Theory from Calvin
Values of the good Protestant
- Hard worker
- No consumption: saving money = investment
- THIS IS THE FIRST STEP OF CAPITALISM
- In the 20s, America needed to get ride of the puritan way of life
- Creation of needs
- Consumption
- THIS IS THE SECOND STEP OF CAPITALISM
- The American psyche
- A good Protestant needs to help others
- “Hate the sin help the sinner”
The Melting Pot theory
- WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
- A descendant, someone who was born in America
- Initially, the population come from Europe
- In Ellis Island: you discard your own identity, you assume a new identity when you decided te become American
- After few generation: melting of descendant
- Intermarrying and the American identity feeling
- The salad d Bowl: opposite for melting pot
- Each community is located in a part of the town
- Can jeopardise the unity of America
Social darwinism
- THE FITTEST SURVIVES = adaptability to the environment
- HERE: adaptability to the society
- Professional selection
- Theory giving legitimacy to social inequalities
