"The Poor law was an aid, not a menace, to capitalism, because it relieved industry of all social responsibility outside the contract of employment..."
Citizenship and Social Class by T.H. Marshall, page 4.
This quote is basically explaining the idea of how the poor law, which had been a thing in England benefited the industry more than the people. The Poor law in Marshall's view allowed the industry to rid themselves of social responsibility, in which he doesn't go into depth however one can guess as to why it gave an advantage to the capitalist system. Capitalism has the Idea that whoever works more gains more. With a small background knowledge of the "poor law" one can see as to why it gave aid to capitalism. The first mention of poor laws in England was the movement in where the wage for laborers was raised due to the low amount of population in England, food prices were also lowered. This served as an initiative to raise England's population therefore increasing the labor force; in it's way creating competition and aiding capitalism. Though Marshall doesn't mention the depth and history of such laws, it is almost obvious how such laws aid the industry, even in our society.
Citizenship and Social Class by T.H. Marshall, page 4.
This quote is basically explaining the idea of how the poor law, which had been a thing in England benefited the industry more than the people. The Poor law in Marshall's view allowed the industry to rid themselves of social responsibility, in which he doesn't go into depth however one can guess as to why it gave an advantage to the capitalist system. Capitalism has the Idea that whoever works more gains more. With a small background knowledge of the "poor law" one can see as to why it gave aid to capitalism. The first mention of poor laws in England was the movement in where the wage for laborers was raised due to the low amount of population in England, food prices were also lowered. This served as an initiative to raise England's population therefore increasing the labor force; in it's way creating competition and aiding capitalism. Though Marshall doesn't mention the depth and history of such laws, it is almost obvious how such laws aid the industry, even in our society.
I chose this quote because i found it interesting that he would point this out. In the United States a large fraction of the population tends to have the attitude that goes against the social standards. It is a common trend to see young and even some older people have a negative view towards "the man", which often refers to the wealthy and or government. Today's society recognizes the social inequalities that have been accumulating since the early years of the United States. And so this quote I thought represented a very common view of many people in the U.S., that in no way is wrong. I think that as people we expect the government to have the people's best interest, but that is often not the case. Take for example higher education, it became a thing not because we thought it important to educate citizens for the sake of education, but because it was becoming a requirement for jobs. It can even be seen today that people are going to college for the sake of being able to find a job in the further future, and so the roots of what we think to be social rights is in reality demands by the industry. I think that this topic is in philosophical terms and issue, because in a sense we are not free and the industry has a larger power on us than we think.
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