Questions - Chapter 5

1)     What were the social costs of the industrial revolution?

2)     Are any of these social costs still present in Canada’s industrialized economy?

3)     Describe the reactions of working people to industrialization in England.

4)     What was the “Combination Act”?

5)     What was the “Speenhamland” system?

6)     Describe Hodgskin’s views on capital and labour?

 

7)     “There can be no doubt about which class paid the social costs in terms of the sacrificed consumption that was necessary for industrialization.” (p66). 
What does this mean? Is it possible for industrialization to occur without sacrificed consumption?

 

8)     “The view of the classical liberals was that workers should accept any job the market offered, regardless of the conditions or pay involved.  Any person who would not or could not do so should be given just enough to prevent physical starvation.  One’s dole should be substantially lower than the lowest wage offered in the market, and one’s general situation should stigmatize one sufficiently to motivate one to seek gainful employment” (p70). 
How is this situation similar, and how is it different to that which exists today?

 

9)     Assume you want to have a free market without having the means of production privately owned?  How could this be done?

 

10) William Thompson believed that a competitive market would lead to 5 evils. What were these 5 evils?

 

11) How was Robert Owen’s factory run differently than modern business organizations are run?

 

12) What were Fourier’s 4 wastes?