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The Protestant Ethic Today: Work, Meaning, and Moral Capitalism Among American Conservative Protestants
Dr Andrew Lynn, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia
About the Seminar
In the closing
decades of the 20th century, a cohort of American Conservative Protestants
began promoting a "Protestant work ethic" for creative class and
knowledge workers. But surprisingly, these actors were neither retrieving
Puritan notions of disciplined work nor heralding a newer "Prosperity
Gospel" message of assured riches. I examine this work ethic as a moral
framework for affirming economic activity and everyday life within modern work
settings. While at times voicing commitments to wider moral ends, this
framework favours aesthetic understandings of personal "callings"
that elevate the sacredness of the "Monday world" to a level more conventionally
reserved for Sunday. I explore how these ideas blend classical Christian
theology with Romantic conceptions of wholeness and beauty in a manner that
supercharges work with meaning and personal significance. But while heavy on
the language of faith-work integration, these frameworks often serve to sift
away religious values and identities that fall into conflict with modern
workplace logics or practices. A historical analysis of these ideas reveals
sociological factors that are likely driving a segment of American Conservative
Protestants to seek greater peace with the dominant institutions of American
society.
About the Speaker
Andrew Lynn is a
postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the
University of Virginia. His research bridges concerns in moral theory,
political theory, and the sociology of work. His dissertation project examined
evolving understandings of work and economics among American Conservative
Protestants in the 20th and 21st century. A revised version of this project is
set to be published by Oxford University Press in 2022. His more recent work
probes the integration of ethics within economic enterprises. Andrew earned a
PhD in Sociology from the University of Virginia.
Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture website
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