Abstract:
Japan is one of the success stories in Asia, being the first non-Western country to achieve
the status of an economic superpower. Sri Lanka on the other hand, fell behind after
independence. The reason for this decline was not the lack of 'objective' conditions for
economic development but rather due to the absence of the subjective conditions. Max
Weber always stressed the primacy of the subjective factor as against the objective factors in
the process of economic development. The objective of this study would be to examine the
cultural and ideological preparedness of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority community of Sri
Lanka to embark on the path towards economic development within the universe of
discourse opened up by Weber with his 'Protestant ethic' thesis. The following facts
emerge.
