Thread: What is the history of the "Protestant work ethic" starting from the Restoration of the 18th Century?

Recently, in my college literature class, I have been hearing about the "Protestant work ethic" that came about around the Restoration period in the 18th Century. In lieu of researching this because of the time it would consume, does anyone know how this "ethic" developed?

This term is usually used in reference to Calvinism, founded by Frenchman John Calvin in the 16th century. He taught predestination, that is, that some people are destined to be saved and others to be damned, and we cannot alter this decision by our good works. But someone who is successful in life as well as good and charitable, might be preceived to be one of the saved, or "Elect". So Calvin's followers worked hard and lived soberly. When they went first to Holland and then to the United States, they brought that ethic with them in setting up the colonies in New England.

When the Prots celebrate the 'fruits of our [their] labor' is the basis of the admirable Protestant work ethic.

By the way, the Protestant Work Ethic is why capitalism works so well in White Anglo Saxon Protestant countries, and fails elsewhere. Capitalism is cultural specific.