Table of Contents
Definition of Asceticism
(noun) The doctrine that a highly spiritual state can be achieved by hard work, sobriety, and the renunciation of worldly pleasures.
Example of Asceticism
- Early Calvinists were frugal and avoided alcohol.
Asceticism Pronunciation
Syllabification: as·cet·i·cism
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /uh-sEt-uh-siz-uhm/
- British English – /uh-sE-ti-si-zuhm/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /əˈsɛtɪkɪz(ə)m/
- British English – /əˈsɛtɪsɪz(ə)m/
Usage Notes
- Protestant asceticism was studied by Max Weber (1864–1920) in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and translated into English by Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) in 1930.
- Asceticism is contrasted to hedonism.
- Also called:
- ascesis
- ascetism
- austerity
- nonindulgence (non-indulgence)
- self-denial (selfdenial)
- An (noun) ascetic is an individual (adverb) ascetically dedicated to living an (adjective) ascetical life.
Related Quotations
- “[T]he religious valuation of restless, continuous, systematic work in a worldly calling, as the highest means to asceticism, and at the same time the surest and most evident proof of rebirth and genuine faith, must have been the most powerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude toward life which we have here called the spirit of capitalism” (Weber [1904–5] 1930:116).
- “The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into everyday life, and began to dominate worldly morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order. This order is now bound to the technical and economic conditions of machine production which today determine the lives of all individuals who are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with economic acquisition, with irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until the last ton of fossilized coal is burnt. In Baxter’s view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the ‘saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment’. But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage” (Weber [1904–5] 1930:123).
Additional Information
- Religion Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “asceticism” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Weber, Max. 1930. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Related Terms
Reference
Weber, Max. [1904–5] 1930. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by T. Parsons. London: Allen and Unwin.
Note: Page numbers are from a reprinted edition, Routledge Classics (2001).
Works Consulted
Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.
Dillon, Michele. 2014. Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2011. Sociology: The Core. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.
Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Asceticism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “asceticism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved October 15, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/asceticism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
asceticism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/asceticism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “asceticism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/asceticism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“asceticism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/asceticism/>.