Protestant Work Ethic Endorsement and Social Justice Values in Developing and Developed Societies

Abstract

Taking Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism thesis as the point of departure, this paper compares work ethic endorsement patterns and social justice correlates in a developing society, Jamaica, and a developed society, New Zealand. A condensed version of Mirels and Garrett's Protestant work ethic scale and related demographic and social values-related measures were administered at Jamaican and New Zealand universities. High and low Protestant ethic (PE) clusters were isolated, within each culture, among comparable samples of undergraduate social science students, and multiple analysis of variance applied to test effects of culture, Protestant religious affiliation and related “social justice values” variables (welfare state support, redistribution, intergenerational equity, free enterprise, social distance from the disadvantaged, social Darwinism). Results suggest there are significant cultural differences between high and low PE scorers on key justice-related societal values often seen as being associated with the Protestant work ethic. Possible reasons for the differences are advanced in light of Jamaican and New Zealand social and political conditions.