This interpretation of a religious grounding for economic development was used by some to justify Eurocentric ideas about the social bases of modernization. ‘Calvinistic Protestant ethics, which promoted economic growth, was contrasted with other religions which impeded such development. Other religions often operated as a barrier to economic growth, a psychological impediment to development’ (Raghuram 1999: 235). The use of Weber’s work in this way fails to recognize the fact that he stressed the importance of the context in which he developed his ideas. He did not claim to provide a universal explanation for capitalist economic development, choosing instead to consider the nature of German society in the nineteenth century (Preston 1996).