This text is the result of a research carried out over two years, which focused on the way how people practiced trade in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the middle of the last century. At that time, the activities performed by the merchant were part of his social identity. Based on this assumption, the Weberian capitalist ethos is questioned in the context of commerce in Minas Gerais in the middle of the 20th century. The arguments were mostly constructed comparing Max Weber's ideas to data obtained in the empirical research. Thirty three semi-structured interviews were performed with people between 60 and 95 years of age who worked as mobile merchants. The reports were approached through Content Analysis, based on the survey of themes identified during the speeches (BARDIN, 2004). In the interviews, markedly characteristic elements of the protestant capitalism and traits of personalism and "irrationality" inherited from the Portuguese people (HOLANDA, 1995) were identified. Apparently, the subjects under study drew on ties of affection in their trade relations not only because they wanted one more client - although it is a factor to be taken into account -, but because they saw their life and labor as interconnected circumstances. Therefore, one verifies in this paper that the merchants under study are characterized as a hybrid type between what Weber named traditional and modern, where affective, moral, and rational aspects weave into each other.
Labor; Commerce; Brazilian merchant