Industrial Revolution

Question 1

Thomas Malthus (CL)
“To prevent the recurrence of misery is, alas! beyond

Answer 1

An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1798)
○ Existing poor laws too generous
○ ^ # of poor beyond society’s ability to
support
■ creates a vulnerable population
(famine, disease) - unsustainable

Question 2

David Ricardo (CL)

Answer 2

Theory of Comparative Advantage”
■ Trade can always be advantageous
○ “Iron Law of Wages” (1817)
○ Improving the lives of the poor is futile
■ (Influence of Malthus)
David Ricardo (1772-1823)
■ Higher wages = More children
= (eventually) more labourers → lower wages (supply & demand)
■ Fair (sustainable) price for labour is ∴ a subsistence wage

Question 3

Utilitarianism (CL)

Answer 3

● A Moral, Logical Philosophy Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) ○ Aim: the greatest good for the greatest number
■ note: our own good/pleasure should not be viewed as worth more than others
● Used to justify coming approach to the poor:
○ Govt. relief must be harsher than alternative (work) as motivation to
work
■ Individual & Societal justification

Question 4

Reform of “The Poor Laws”

Answer 4

● Parliament Studies existing poor supports (local, haphazard)
● Finds them too generous
● → 1834 New Poor Laws

Question 5

Democracy” in the early 19th C.

Answer 5

● Wealthy men have all the power
● Ex. The Corn Laws (1815-46)
○ A tariff on imported food
○ Widely disliked by most of the population
(increase price of food)
■ Anti-Corn Law Leagues formed (wide
cross section of society)
○ Stays after Napoleon’s death because…
○ Who benefits?

Question 6

19th Century Workhouses

Answer 6

● Embodiment of Utilitarian principles - relief as punishing
○ Voluntary commitment
○ Worst work
○ Separation of families

Question 7

Debtors Prisons

Answer 7

● Unitil reform in 1869
● For those who could not pay their debts
● Often mixed in with criminal prisoners
● Forced labour (harsh jobs) to pay for:
○ upkeep/living ○ debts

Question 8

Early Signs of protest/unrest

Answer 8

● Luddite Movement (1812-13)
○ Textile workers against machines
● Peterloo Massacre (1819)
○ Army attacks protesting workers
● Chartist Movement (1836-50)
○ Push for democratic reform.
○ Demands denied, movement
repressed

Question 9

Utopian Socialism (USoc)

Answer 9

● Believed:
○ Failings of individualism →
Collectivist approach.
○ Voluntarily, spontaneously
adopted.
● A name given later, and as an insult,
by other Socialists.
○ Marx & Engels call their take
Scientific (or Revolutionary) Socialism

Question 10

Henri de Saint-Simon (USoc)

Answer 10

● Industrialization as radical change that will demand radical restructuring of society
○ community teamwork, equality
■ but worried about the problem of idleness,
parasites
○ societal leadership by educated bureaucrats
(“technocratic socialism”)
■ church must surrender leadership
○ through education we can eliminate the “Hand of Greed” in mankind
○ inspires many → “Saint-Simonianism”
Saint-Simon (1760-1825)

Question 11

Charles Fourier (USoc)

Answer 11

● Passionate Critic of existing Society
■ sexuality - liberation! Charles Fourier (1772-1837)
■ Poverty as the greatest evil in society
■ Power of (non-traditional) education to
liberate the individual to pursue passions

Question 12

Charles Fourier

Answer 12

● proposed the idea of Phalansteries (Gk. Phalanx)
○ model communities
○ 500-2000 inhabitants, agricultural, industrial & service
○ largely self-sufficient
○ attempted in U.S. (ex. Brook Farm, Massachusetts)
○ Coins “feminism” (1837)

Question 13

Louis Blanc (USoc?)

Answer 13

● French lawyer, writer
● L’Orginasition du Travail (1839)
● Competition –> workers destitution –> evils in society
● “De chacun selon ses facultés, à chacun selon ses besoins”
● (From each according to their abilities, to each according to
their needs)

Question 14

Louis Blanc

Answer 14

● 1848 Revolutions in France → Blanc’s Report on Labour
● National Workshops
○ Worker owned cooperative factories
○ Workers have a right to work
○ Govt. must provide impetus, workers will take
over
■ Dif. from Utopian Socialists
○ Grudgingly/haltingly implemented & short lived

Question 15

Robert Owen (USoc)

Answer 15

● Self-made man (“rags to riches”)
● Controlling share of New Lanark (Cotton) Mill (U.K.)
● Uses profits to promote a better lifestyle for workers
○ education for children
○ lifestyle improvements (drinking, cleanliness, etc.)
● Nurture over nature!
● Founds New Harmony (Indiana) 1825-28
○ Intended to be a model collectivist community
○ Instead, a clear failure
● Influential in beginnings of Socialism, Union movement