How Capitalistic is the Jesuit Tradition? A Chapter in the History of Early Modern Education

In the wake of the Modern Age, the European cultural Model was exported in America and imposed on the New World. One of the most important features of that Model was a (pre)capitalistic mentality. Max Weber stated that the spirit of capitalism that arose during the 19th Century was rooted in Calvinist ethics. Several Catholic-minded students opposed Weber’s theory finding some evidences of a Catholic influence on the rising capitalistic classes during the 16th and the 17th Centuries. This paper aims at demonstrating why the Society of Jesus was the prominent Catholic order in spreading a capitalistic mentality around the world. This goal was achievable by reason of the values shared by the Jesuits and their efficient management of a worldwide network of schools and colleges. These values are the same ones that Weber used to describe a psychological capitalistic profile: efficiency, method, excellence, action, adventure and courage.