FROM RATIONALITY TO SUBJECTIVITY
197
Nonetheless, this ethos, or
spirit
of capitalism, now simply a "practical-eth–
ical" constellation of values, had done its part in assisting the birth of an
industrial and highly organized capitalism. We who are born into this
modern economic order are no longer motivated to work methodically on
the basis of a calling or even an ethos; rather, we do so simply because "this
mechanism ... bound to the technical and economic conditions of
machine production" coerces us to do so in order to survive. A mighty
structure founded in an instrumental rationality of technical, administra–
tive, and market contingencies determines our lives. Capitalism now rests
on mechanical foundations and irresistible force: "The Puritan
wanted
to
work in a calling ... we
must
do so." Once intricately linked to labor, these
values are no longer crucial to or cultivated in modern industrial work,
even though work has become the very center of our lives: "The idea of
duty in one's calling prowls about in our lives like the ghost of dead reli–
gious beliefs."
Moreover, modern capitalism advances together with specific organi–
zations adapted to its functioning, which affirm technical administration.
In Weber's words,
the bureaucratic organization, wi th its specialization of trained skills,
its division of jurisdiction, its rules and hierarchical relations of
authority ... is busy fabricating the shell of bondage
(Cehiiuse jener
Horigkeit)
which men will perhaps be forced to inhabit some day, as
powerless as the fellahs of ancient Egypt. This might happen if a tech–
nically superior administration were to be the ultimate and sole value
in the ordering of their affairs.
In this iron cage model, the domination of bureaucracies calls forth a
caste of functionaries and civil servants who monopolize power.
Opportunities for the development of genuine entrepreneurs and political
leaders vanish in this rigidly stratified society as austerely rational as a
machine. Wherever the inescapable power of functionaries reigns, there is
a loss of societal dynamism; societal stagnation results.
This iron cage society, without brotherhood and compassion, becomes
increasingly dominated by the impersonal values of the functionary on the
one hand-duty, punctuality, reliability, respect for hierarchy, etc.-and
calculations of interests and advantage on the other hand. A retreat into the
private realm is viewed as the single means of survival with a measure of
dignity intact. "Home and hearth" become the refuge, the only place of
warmth and compassion. In this portrait, civic virtues and public ethics are
absent and most values beyond the personal ones are mere moribund lega–
cies from earlier-mainly religious-epochs. They are now threatened
