Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production for profit.
Max Weber maintains that the capitalist spirit may virtually be regarded as the child of Calvinism. The Calvinist Puritan leaders of the Reformation believed that profitable undertakings were themselves God's work and gave the world a perfect recipe for capital accumulation by regarding spending as equivalent to original sin. It is even possible that without this attitude, Europe would never have acquired enough capital to launch the capitalist system. As wealth accumulated and the system spread, the Puritan restraints began to wane and true Christian values were the first to suffer. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.