The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism

This book explores the historical and contemporary relationships of Protestant Puritanism to political and social authoritarianism. It focuses on Puritanism's original, subsequent and modern influences on and legacies in political democracy and civil society within historically Puritan Western societies. There is emphasis on Great Britain and particularly America, from the 17th to the 21st century.

Milan Zafirovski is associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Texas, USA. He holds doctoral degrees in economics and sociology. His research interests are interdisciplinary focusing on the relations between economy, politics and society. He is the author of three books: Market and Society (2003): The Duality of Structure in Markets (2002), and Exchange, Action and Social Structure (2001), as well as more than 50 articles in refereed economics and sociology journals in America, Europe and elsewhere. He is also a co-editor of the International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology (2006) as well as an advisory/area editor in the area of Economic Sociology for the Encyclopedia of Sociology (edited by George Ritzer) (forthcoming).