9.4 Reforming the Industrial World
9.4 Reforming the Industrial World
The Economic PhilosophersAdam Smith believed that economic liberty guaranteed economic progress; government need not interfere in the economy. The Wealth of Nations and other writings described an invisible hand guided by 3 natural laws which will right the market.
Thomas Malthus believed that population tended to increase more rapidly than food supply; without wars and epidemics to kill off extra population, most people would always be poor.
The superior power of population can not be checked with out producing misery or viceThomas Malthus
David Ricardo believed that the permanent underclass would always be poor because wages would be forced down as population increased and more workers became available.
Theory ofcomparative advantage, suggests that a nation should concentrate its resources solely in industries where it ismostinternationally competitive and trade with other countries to obtain products not produced nationally.
Social Reformers
John Stuart Mill wanted government to do away with great differences in wealth; he favored a more equal division of profits, a cooperative system of agriculture, and womens rights such as the right to vote. Works include On Liberty and The Subjection of Women.
Jeremy Bentham-He the founder of utilitarianism which believed the proper course of action is the one that maximizesutility, usually defined as maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering or the negatives for the greatest number.Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation focuses on the principle of utility as it is applied to legislative acts.
Benthams skeleton and head were preserved to create his auto-icon which is on display today at University College London.
Robert Owen improved working and living conditions for employees in his mills by renting them low-rent housing that he built, prohibiting children under ten from working in his mills, and providing free schooling. He also founded a cooperative utopian community.Acooperative is an autonomous association of people whovoluntarily cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit.
New Harmony, IN
Charles Fourier and Henri de Saint-Simon advocated socialism, under which the factors of production would be owned by the public and operated for the benefit of all, as a replacement for free-market capitalism.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels predicted the destruction of the capitalist system and the creation of a classless communist state in which the means of production would be owned by the people. This brand of socialism becomes known as Marxism.
It presents an analytical approach to theclass struggle(historical and present) and the problems of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms.TheCommunist Manifestocontains Marx and Engels' theories about the nature of society and politics. It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced bysocialism, and then finallycommunism.
William Wilberforce led the fight in Parliament for the end of the slave trade and slavery in the British Empire.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know. William Wilberforce
In 1791, Anti-Slavery protests such as sugar boycotts were advocated by Wilberforce.Sugar's problem was much more serious and ghastly. In the words of the Baron d'Holbach, a famous materialist philosopher, not a cask of it came into Europe to which blood is not sticking.In 1807, the slave trade was finally abolished, but this did not free those who were already slaves. It was not until 1833 that an act was passed giving freedom to all slaves in the British empire.
Jane Adams ran a settlement house to provide social services to residents of a poor neighborhood. In 1889, along with Ellen Gates Star, co-founded Hull House in Chicago.
Horace Mann called for free public schooling for all children to promote and educated society.
