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Weber’s Spirit of Capitalism and the Bahamas’ Junkanoo Ethic
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Review of Austrian Economics, 19 (4) 2006.
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Abstract
Although critics often ignore this nuance in Weber’s thought, Weber knew full well that work ethics come in many different flavors. As he has said, “life can be ‘rationalized’ from altogether different ‘ultimate’ viewpoints and in altogether different directions.” The Protestant ethic which, according to Weber, contributed to economic development in the West is only one of a variety of work ethics that can be identified and studied. In the Bahamas, for instance, a definite Junkanoo ethic colors economic life. Junkanoo is a carnival like festival that takes place in the early morning hours of Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and New Year’s Day. It is the quintessential Bahamian cultural experience and, as such, understanding Junkanoo, not only, that is, what it means to be on Bay Street New Year’s morning but, also, what it means to hear/feel the rhythm of Junkanoo even in May or June is, therefore, critical to understanding Bahamian culture and what it means to be a Bahamian. This paper, using Weber’s Protestant Ethic as a model for telling culturally aware economic narratives, discusses the role that this Junkanoo ethos has played in the economic success of the Bahamas (the richest country in the West Indies). Section II explores Weber’s work on work ethics and attempts to tease out the methodological insights to be gained from carefully studying Weber’s analysis. Section III, then, describes the Junkanoo ethic that is dominant in the Bahamas, discussing its role in economic life in that context. Section IV summarizes these arguments.
Presented at The Association of Private Enterprise Education International Convention, Nassau, The Bahamas, April 4-6, 2004, “Institutions, Culture, and Ethics in a Market Economy.”
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virgil storr, ph.d.
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
3301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 450, Arlington, VA 22201
(703)993-8127; fax: (703) 993-4935
vstorr@gmu.edu
Last Updated: June 2010
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