Then, Weber also tried to understand why a rational economic system (capitalism) had developed in the West and why it had failed to develop in the rest of the world.
He focused on religion in this process, and concluded that a rational religious system (Calvinism of Christianity) played the central role in the rise of capitalism in the West. In contrast, more irrational religious systems (e.g. Confucianism, Hinduism) is popular in the rest of the world, and they constricted the development of capitalism.