e hold of tradition on pre-industrial peoples. Weber's task was to uncover the forces in the West that caused people to abandon their traditional religious value orientation and encouraged them to develop a desire for acquiring goods and wealth.
             After careful study, Weber came to the belief that it was the conceptual conviction in the protestant ethic that broke the hold of tradition and encouraged men to apply themselves rationally to their work. Calvinism, he believed, had developed a set of beliefs around the concept of predestination. It was believed by followers of Calvin that one could not do good works or perform acts of faith to assure your place in heaven. Therefore, you were either among the "elect" who attained salvation, or you were not. With no solid empirical foundation to base assumptions whether a man was condemned or saved, Calvinist began searching for "signs" to indicate whether a person was among the "elect." As it came to be, wealth was taken as a sign that you were one of the God's elect, thereby providing encouragement for people to acquire wealth. This Calvinist belief provided religious sanctions that fostered a spirit of rigorous discipline, encouraging men to apply themselves rationally to acquire wealth.
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