The "Catholic Ethic" Vs The "Protestant Ethic": Catholic Social Service and the Welfare State.

This article contrasts Catholic social service and the welfare state. The author of this essay advances three ideas. First, he argues that there is a set of beliefs that can be called the "Catholic Ethic." This ethic stands, in important respects, juxtaposed to its more popular sibling, the "Protestant Ethic." Second, some crucial components of the Catholic Ethic are of central importance to the development of a welfare state. Its tenets tend to facilitate the kinds of provisions that aid the disadvantaged and support those in need. Third, the different sequence of Protestant and Catholic ethos within Western societies may have been important in the different positions of countries today with respect to welfare state activities. This argument will have particular force with respect to the United States. The concept of a Protestant Ethic totally pervades American society. Its presence has been well established in social and in popular science. The original work of sociologist Max Weber on the "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," has been one of the most well established hypotheses in macrosociology.