HIS244H1 - Tutorial 1.docx

HIS244H1: Tutorial #1 These documents are divided into several different chunks: economic theory, changes in social class, gender and sexuality and potential changes. THE ENLIGHTENMENT:  Core values of the enlightenment – man is set apart from the beast, and our relationship with God Economic Theory of the 18 Century Faux & Smith documents are reacting to the perception that Britain is a very successful th power in the 18 century – creating theories as to why Britain is so successful Smith:  Smith: believer of liberalism, thinks that natural self-interest and a desire for people to earn money and attain goods will naturally allow the economy to be successful and because Britain has a free market, in that sense, that’s why the British economy is successful because it allows people to engage in commerce in the way they want to  Division of labour – industry is more efficient when done a certain way, which in turn makes trade more efficient and the economy should therefore be structured that way  Britain is the best environment for this to occur, big emphasis on individual self interest  What does Smith mean when he says self-interest: bettering our own condition (general),  Gained a title, materialistic goods – material prosperity  Extravagant spending is not the way to prosperity, Smith is all about saving, not showing wealth in an austatacious way  Security of the people – if the country is stable, and order in society is desirable  Within classical liberalism there’s an idea that emerges in reaction to mercantilism which is practiced in France and Spain – what went wrong is that they spent extravagantly on military expenditures and luxury goods and that’s what ruined the economy – saving and investment is better  Theory of Moral Sentiment: what really motivates people? Makes a case that people are motivated by status, and that what people really want is respect and admiration of other people, this motivates us in various ways to seek various signatures or markers wealth, political/social standing (all ties together)  What is the role of community in all this?  Clearly humans are social creatures, and what others do clearly matters to us Defaux:  Cheerleader for trade, as well as being English  “The English are the best of men…England is the best kind of country”  Trade is not the same in other countries as it is in England  Trade is not treated in the same way on the continent as it is in Britain  Members of nobility participate in trade (not common in other countries)  System of values incorporates nobility in the economic system (willing to get involved in trade) Leeds Worker’s Petition  Ethical face to economic activity  Essentially it’s there livelihood, these machines that they are implementing are taking away from the people that work there  Less people needed to work there – more people out of a job  If machines are doing most of the work… what will our children do? Idleness can be problematic too (ex. Crime)  The economy supports the fabric of society, it supports the community, and these things will degrade/disintegrate without an economy that serves it  Quality is also put into question – machines vs. man made  Efficiency doesn’t equal quality, or moral equality  Value based issues – production goal vs. quality goal Marquis du Marriville This article looks at the role of nobles, and the changing of traditional economic systems. Marquis has a strong opinion on what the nobles do in terms of going off to the city and leaving their land to the workers. Nobles did this in order to gain favors, as opposed to staying back and doing their duties. This article comments on the traditional economic model in France (peasants work the land for the lord that owns that land, and that supports the life of the noble). In the time that Marquis is writing, society had moved into an era where luxury consumption was more important and came into play. This was a problem as the traditional model was no longer able to support the noble’s lifestyle through traditional means of gathering income. Traditional means simply refers to the gathering