Considering Cultural Legacy on Today's Economics

Oct. 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Although the Reformation was a seismic theological shift, it catalysed revolutionary philosophies and movements in the wider political and economic spheres, bifurcating Europe into Protestant and Catholic and roughly North and South and cultures and economies.

We are all used to seeing an archetype of the austere and dour businessmen, always in hot pursuit and constantly looking at their wristwatches. This archetype was most famously illustrated in Dickens’ Scrooge, perhaps the most accomplished literary creation to portray the ruthless and pitiless businessman, so focused on economic productivity he disregards even Christmas.

On the other hand, Southern Europeans were portrayed as being lazy and reckless with money. Numerous English writers like Sharpe and Smollett, travelling throughout Italy, indicted begging and the wasting of money by Italians. Artists of the post -Reformation plundered the landscapes of Italy, Spain and Greece to paint scenes of languorous and luxurious life.

Are these sketches still tenable? Have centuries mitigated the different cultural attitudes towards money or is this rift between the two poles still valid?


Reformation dogma upholds that hard dedication to one’s work and earthly duties leaves little time and energy for sin. ‘Idle hands are the devil’s tools’ so the saying goes. Although Reformation theology extinguished any hope of salvation by any means other than grace, nevertheless, pious and unremitting devotion to labour can be a way to curry favour with God. Overlooking the perspective of money as a divine gift, material gain from industriousness and frugalness was a natural reward that increased the likelihood of one’s election on Earth. Early (and some contemporary) Protestant scholars frequently allude to the parable of the talents of silver. The lesson translated as, money is precious and if you spend it you must do so carefully and conscientiously.

The focus on economic productivity and thrifty demeanour- to the point of harsh stinginess- of the Protestants helped consolidate capitalism and the spirit of free enterprise, the most important basis for present-day economic and industrial development. Weber (1904, 1905) for instance, was in no doubt that the Puritan work ethic had contributed to laying the foundations for capitalism and for today’s economic world.


The catchphrase Viva la vida or Live Life in Spanish perfectly epitomizes the Southern attitude to work and life: no dourness or austerity, no sobriety, but instead gaudy colours, partying all the night and very little concern about one’s duties and undertakings. The Southern Weltanschauung (a philosophy or world view) is described as being against rules and regulations, so laxity, ease, indulgence and even neglect are prioritised to live la dolce vita, being Italian for the good or sweet life.

The origins of this world view and its development are less clear than that of the Reformation and capitalism. Climatic factors in Southern Europe predisposed the region to better agricultural yields necessitating somewhat less investment of labour and therefore affording more time for leisure than in the North and perhaps a culture that could afford generosity. Similarly a hot climate necessitates a ‘siesta’ as a refuge from the punishing sun and heat. To Northerners less cognizant of such physical realities, this indicated the lazy, indolent ways of Southern Europeans.

Equally, some scholars, particularly those of the Reformation have laid the blame for Southern cultural values of lassitude and wastefulness at the door of the Roman Catholic Church, as the intercessory between God and Man. The nature of the Catholic doctrine, it is thought, discourages personal responsibility and encourages fatalism, a sense that only God bestows favour or fortune, to those deserving and undeserving. Wealth is a blessing and not the natural consequence of individual effort and thriftiness. As well, practices such as building grand cathedrals, papal palaces and selling of indulgences indicated an attitude that money was to be spent in service to and for the glorification of God.

Money to augment spirituality or money for practical, material purposes. Money earned by one’s own sweat or money gracefully gifted by the Divine. Life as sweet or Life as a hardship. These are the points of the profound shift in values instigated by the Reformation and how it resonated in the financial and economic attitudes between Protestant Northern Europe and Catholic Southern Europe. Did the accompanying capitalism of the Reformation merely leave most of Southern Europe behind, or did this model of economic progress and its underlying dogma simply fail to resonate with the values of Southern and Catholic Europe? Whilst trying not to be biased, no doubt the manner in which the Reformation took hold contributed to establishing capitalism. Northern- and largely Protestant- Europe fostered and benefitted from economic progress and upheld the accumulation of wealth even resorting to foulest and most devious means, such as the cruelties of the Industrial Revolution and slavery.

The personal anecdotes that continue to imbue the South with a reputation for laziness and the North with a reputation for industriousness abound. In some parts of Italy, for instance, one may find people queuing up a whole morning at the post office because staff members are not there, having gone to get a coffee or, even worse, to run their own errands. In countries like Spain, British expats complain about the mañana attitude of their hosts, meaning it will get done tomorrow. Only tomorrow reportedly never comes and therefore neither does the promised work or payment due. The empty coffers in Greece were held by many economists not to be so much caused by the lack of citizen responsibility in paying their taxes (perhaps understandable) but the lack of responsibility on the part of the authorities in collecting the taxes that were due to the country.

In real politics, the ‘bail outs’ are seen less as a rescue from the European Union and more as indebtedness to their Northern- and Protestant heritage- neighbours, most notably Germany. The austerity terms that were imposed on the Southern members were resisted, but the Northern members insisted that their models of financial prudence and hard work could be the only salvation. Accept that you have embodied your own negative stereotype or starve, the Northern members seemed to be saying, having already proved their own cultural profiles to be true to form in the areas of financial and economic management.

Although the European Union is an endeavour of firstly, economic cooperation, the wider cultural polarization of Europe during the Reformation continues to divide Europe along roughly the same lines today, and most notably in economic and business management.