Le «vocazioni» e la trama della modernità

In his paper «La contingenza della contingenza», Luca Diotallevi reminds us of the crucial role Christianity played in the making of capitalist modernity. This paper provides a few, impressionistic comments regarding the role of the concept of «vocation» in the underpinning of a modern market economy. The Industrial Revolution can be explained by a change in culture, which consisted in the public recognition of dignity and value to mercantile and artisanal jobs. Different «vocations» found their home in a modern economy, as has recently been emphasized by Deirdre N. McCloskey. To what extent is the very vocabulary of a market economy indebted to Christianity? How can concepts and words that are the pillars of a modern market economy survive in a context which is so culturally different? Can new forms of «spirituality» play the very same role Christianity had?