Marx and Weber: The Ethos of the Bourgeoisie and the Origins of Modern Capitalism

The following article aims to explain, in general terms, some of the most relevant issues regarding the origins of Western capitalism, according to Karl Marx and Max Weber. In this exposition, the connection between both analyses is clear in terms of the inception of capitalism and the fundamentally economic outlook that governs both authors' points of view. This connection, despite the inclusion of political and religious themes in both their analyses, problematizes the reductionist readings that divide them based on the materialistic and economic postures of Marx, and spiritual and ideological postures of Weber. In addition, the relationship between capitalism and its correspondent political form is analyzed, that is to say, the modern state and economic ethos of this kind of state (bourgeois, according to Marx, and rational-legal according to Weber), in order to make a comment about the different political positions of these two authors regarding the valuation of bourgeois capitalism in the West.