Is it a career advantage to be a Protestant?

I have never personally encountered any overt religious bias in a UK work-place, although inevitably people bring their personal beliefs enthusiasms and prejudices with them to work. I was aware of but not directly involved in, a situation where someone in Scotland felt that they had suffered disadvantage on sectarian grounds, but there wasn’t any clear evidence to substantiate it. Clearly this is highly sensitive territory , with significant potential for ill-feeling. People affiliate to different groups for many reasons, but I hope that anyone affiliating to this IET community is respectful of others and “blind” to anyone else’s religious faith (if any), gender, ethnicity etc.

 

The history of UK Professional Institutions as Learned Societies or “clubs”, naturally leads to arguments that those in control at any point in time “favour their own kind” over “others” and we have extensively debated that. When I was trying to understand why the legacy one of our “greats” Thomas Parker had become forgotten, it became apparent that at the time of his death in 1915 our institution was very “martial”. Whereas he was “The embodiment of a self-improving working-class man, he attended the Church of the Saviour of the acclaimed preacher George Dawson and went to lectures at the Birmingham and Midland Institute.” (Prof Carl Chinn). His acquaintance and admirer Lord Kelvin (William Thompson) was of similar religious persuasion.

 

As James has highlighted, the “Protestant Work Ethic” was clearly an important driver in the development of Engineering and The Industrial Revolution generally. However as he also helpfully sets out this was probably more about a set of values and behaviours rather  than theological differences. James’s highlighting of the Quakers drew me towards the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution when the Quaker Abraham Darby made a key contribution. At a time when the British and American perspectives were joined together, but when a distinctive American identity influenced by religious non-conformism was emerging. Only a generation earlier a bitter English Civil War had been fought at least partly on the grounds of religion.  My interest in the story below may be obvious, but it offers an example of different Christian denominations. Incidentally the aforementioned Thomas Parker was also an apprentice at the same works in the 1850s.       

 
The ironworks at Coalbrookdale were later to become famous: charcoal was the traditional fuel used in the smelting of iron, and in the early eighteenth century Abraham Darby pioneered the coke-smelting process which paved the way for the Industrial revolution. There may have been a smithy there in Henry VIII's time. In 1638 Sir Basil Brooke built a blast furnace there, and a forge was opened in 1642. A Catholic, he was prosecuted for recusancy in 1641-2, and imprisoned in Newgate. In 1643 (after the Civil War had begun) he was implicated in an alleged Royalist plot and was committed to the Tower.The Puritan regime sequestered the works and certain locals filled the resulting vacuum of authority with their own initiatives. Captains Henry Bowdler and Thomas Scott apparently obtained the iron works from the custody of the Parliamentarian forces; In 1649 a relative of Sir Basil's gained the lease and the social status quo was restored.

 

I’m not a historian, just interested, but perhaps there is an academic historian's angle around the advantages of Protestantism. There are those who would perhaps see it as contributing to The Enlightenment. I’m not aware of any research to establish any correlations between “work ethic” or types of thinking advantageous to the practice of engineering and different religious beliefs.  I have even argued in these forums about the evidence of correlation between different models of education and subsequent performance, which should be stronger. There is a different perspective based around Social Capital. For example I visited a friend recently who had relocated to a different area, he had benefited from his faith (developed in mid-life) offering him a ready-made social network via the local Church. 


Perhaps the trend being suggested is more related to common social values and networks in an American context, where religion is more overt than in Britain.  Rarely for example would a British Politician invoke religion, when it seems "required" in America.  


 

I have never personally encountered any overt religious bias in a UK work-place, although inevitably people bring their personal beliefs enthusiasms and prejudices with them to work. I was aware of but not directly involved in, a situation where someone in Scotland felt that they had suffered disadvantage on sectarian grounds, but there wasn’t any clear evidence to substantiate it. Clearly this is highly sensitive territory , with significant potential for ill-feeling. People affiliate to different groups for many reasons, but I hope that anyone affiliating to this IET community is respectful of others and “blind” to anyone else’s religious faith (if any), gender, ethnicity etc.

 

The history of UK Professional Institutions as Learned Societies or “clubs”, naturally leads to arguments that those in control at any point in time “favour their own kind” over “others” and we have extensively debated that. When I was trying to understand why the legacy one of our “greats” Thomas Parker had become forgotten, it became apparent that at the time of his death in 1915 our institution was very “martial”. Whereas he was “The embodiment of a self-improving working-class man, he attended the Church of the Saviour of the acclaimed preacher George Dawson and went to lectures at the Birmingham and Midland Institute.” (Prof Carl Chinn). His acquaintance and admirer Lord Kelvin (William Thompson) was of similar religious persuasion.

 

As James has highlighted, the “Protestant Work Ethic” was clearly an important driver in the development of Engineering and The Industrial Revolution generally. However as he also helpfully sets out this was probably more about a set of values and behaviours rather  than theological differences. James’s highlighting of the Quakers drew me towards the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution when the Quaker Abraham Darby made a key contribution. At a time when the British and American perspectives were joined together, but when a distinctive American identity influenced by religious non-conformism was emerging. Only a generation earlier a bitter English Civil War had been fought at least partly on the grounds of religion.  My interest in the story below may be obvious, but it offers an example of different Christian denominations. Incidentally the aforementioned Thomas Parker was also an apprentice at the same works in the 1850s.       

 
The ironworks at Coalbrookdale were later to become famous: charcoal was the traditional fuel used in the smelting of iron, and in the early eighteenth century Abraham Darby pioneered the coke-smelting process which paved the way for the Industrial revolution. There may have been a smithy there in Henry VIII's time. In 1638 Sir Basil Brooke built a blast furnace there, and a forge was opened in 1642. A Catholic, he was prosecuted for recusancy in 1641-2, and imprisoned in Newgate. In 1643 (after the Civil War had begun) he was implicated in an alleged Royalist plot and was committed to the Tower.The Puritan regime sequestered the works and certain locals filled the resulting vacuum of authority with their own initiatives. Captains Henry Bowdler and Thomas Scott apparently obtained the iron works from the custody of the Parliamentarian forces; In 1649 a relative of Sir Basil's gained the lease and the social status quo was restored.

 

I’m not a historian, just interested, but perhaps there is an academic historian's angle around the advantages of Protestantism. There are those who would perhaps see it as contributing to The Enlightenment. I’m not aware of any research to establish any correlations between “work ethic” or types of thinking advantageous to the practice of engineering and different religious beliefs.  I have even argued in these forums about the evidence of correlation between different models of education and subsequent performance, which should be stronger. There is a different perspective based around Social Capital. For example I visited a friend recently who had relocated to a different area, he had benefited from his faith (developed in mid-life) offering him a ready-made social network via the local Church. 


Perhaps the trend being suggested is more related to common social values and networks in an American context, where religion is more overt than in Britain.  Rarely for example would a British Politician invoke religion, when it seems "required" in America.