New Economic Ideas/Pop Culture || NOTES

What was the transformation Europe was undergoing?

Agricultural society to industrial society

“Hands Off”

Industrial owners desired control of industry without interference from the government because they believed the interference would decrease profits

Laissez-Faire economics

Government refrains from interference with industry

Who was the first to define “capitalism” and laissez-faire economics?

Adam Smith

Wealth of Nations

Written by Adam Smith in 1776.

Justified a transition from mercantilism to a more capitalistic (gov. free) industry

Explained that labor is the main source of wealth, not money

Proposed the concept of Supply/Demand

Supply and Demand

People only buy what they want or need; therefore, businesses should produce what people buy. (with no gov interferences, businesses may compete to produce the most inexpensive products)

“Invisible Hand”

The competition between businesses

Thomas Malthus

English economist and preacher known for his pessimistic view of the economy

An Essay on the Principles of Population

Written by Malthus

• A growing population causes inevitable poverty

• When the rate of population growth is faster than the food supply, disaster strikes

David Ricardo

English banker and economist

• Developed concept of “Iron Law of Wages”

• Proposed that competition for jobs kept wages low

• Believed poverty to be unavoidable

Iron Law of Wages

The rising population leads to more workers competing for jobs

What did the reformers criticize?

Laissez-faire economics and the conditions of the working class

William Wilberforce

• Reformer

• British Parliamentary member

• Wanted to abolish slavery

• Wanted the lives of the WC to be better

Lord Shaftsbury

• Reformer

• Parliamentary member

• Wanted to reduce the working hours for women and kids

What did Wilberforce and Shaftsbury propose to the rest of Parliament?

Laws to regulate the working conditions in Great Britain

What were the laws that were passed as a result of Wilberforce and Shaftsbury’s advocacy?

• 1833 - laws regulating employment of children in factories

• 1842 - law outlawing the use of women + children in mines

• 1847 - Ten Hours Act

Ten Hours Act

Limited the lengths of work days to 10h/less for women and children in factories

Jeremy Bentham

• Reformer

• Believed in utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

The true test of any action or institution is its usefulness to society

John Stuart Mill

• Reformer

• Believed the government should tax people’s income to redistribute wealth (to pay for institutions)

Charles Dickens

• Reformer

• Writer

• Used his works to criticize industrialization

• E.g. - Christmas Card, David Copperfield

Socialism

Workers own, manage, and control production

Utopian socialism

An early socialist idea that aims for a society where “everyone shares everything”

Who was the first to create a “working utopia”?

Robert Owen

What did Robert Owen believe?

Competition caused suffering, and cooperation instead would make life better

Karl Marx

German philosopher who earned degrees in history in philosophy, and was forced to flee from Prussia to France

How did Karl Marx view Utopian socialism?

He considered it impractical

What were Marx’s central ideas in which his theories were based?

History, economics, and historical change

Marx’s Theories

1) History advances through conflict, but economics is the major force. Class struggle pushes it forward.

2) At the base of every social order is production

3) Everything in a nation developed around its economic base

4) The most pivotal part of the economic base is the creating of social classes

5) Control of production is only given up through revolution

6) Conflict between classes is inevitable

Which class controlled production?

Middle (ruling) class

According to Marx, what were the four stages of economic life experienced by Europe?

1) Primitive. 2) Slave. 3) Feudal. 4) Capitalist

Primitive Stage

People only produce what they need, free of exploitation until tools and surpluses develop

Slave Stage

Struggle between master and slave

Feudal Stage

Struggle between lord and serf

Capitalist Stage

Struggle between the Middle and Working classes. (“have + have nots”)

What did Marx believe about capitalism?

It was temporary and would result in a major crisis in which the government would take control of the middle class in an industrialized nation —> government would create an equal society characterized by public ownership —> government ceases due to lack of private property or class distinction

Which ideology developed from Marxist ideas?

Communism

Who originally quotes “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source for all true art and science”?

Albert Einstein

Cell Theory

Developed in 1838 by Mathias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann.

• Stated that all living things are made up of tiny units of matter called cells.

• Helped to explain how living things grow

Mathias Schleiden

German botanist

Theodor Schwann

German biologist

What did Charles Darwin do in 1831?

Set out on the HMS Beagle for a world voyage

The Origin of Species by Natural Selection

Written by Darwin in 1859, contains his ideas of evolution:

• Only organisms suited to their environment will survive

• Only those surviving organisms will be able to reproduce, thus passing on the survival traits to their offspring (idea of natural selection)

The Descent of Man

Written by Darwin in 1871

• Supported that man and apes may have had a common ancestor

Gregor Mendel

An Austrian monk and the “Father of Genetics”

What did Gregor Mendel do in the 1860s?

Conducted experiments to discover how organisms passed characteristics to their offspring

What was Mendel’s theory?

Characteristics are passed from generation to generation by tiny particles — “genes”

How does medicine change in the 1800s?

New medical advancements were developed to support longevity and healthiness in people’s lives

Edward Jenner

An English doctor who studied disease

Which disease was the primary focus of Edward Jenner?

Smallpox

What did Edward Jenner observe in 1796?

Dairy workers (who were prone to cowpox) never suffered from smallpox

• Led him to the idea that he could prevent people from getting smallpox by injecting cowpox samples into their bodies.

Edward Jenner developed the first…

Vaccination

Louis Pasteur

French chemist in the 1850s

What did Louis Pasteur discover?

• Bacteria (“germs”) cause disease

• Bacteria reproduce like other living organisms

• The causes for several diseases— tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax

How were operations conducted during the early 1800s, prior to this era’s advances in surgery?

Patients were operated on only when they could be forcefully held

Two early anesthetics

1840s - Ether, a dangerous liquid, used in performing dental surgery

Later - Chloroform, a sleep-inducing chemical

James Simpson

An obstetrician who researched the use of chloroform at the University of Edinburgh

What was a major cause of death, other than naturally arising disease?

Infection from unsterilized medical tools

Joseph Lister

An English surgeon who discovered that carbolic acid could be used to sterilize medical tools

What did John Dalton discover?

• Atomic theory — all matter consists of tiny particles (atoms)

• Elements are made of atoms

• All atoms of an element are identical, but different than those of other elements

Which tool proved to scientists that atoms were NOT solid and indivisible?

The X-Ray

What did Wilhelm K. Roentgen discover in 1895?

High energy waves could penetrate solid matter

Why did Roentgen call matter-penetrating emissions “X-rays”?

He did not know why they could penetrate, nor the source of the rays, so X was a variable for unknown

What did scientists prove X-rays were made of?

Electrons, parts of an atom (also proving that atoms were not solid parts)

August Comte

A French philosopher from the 1800s who helped create sociology

Sociology

The study of human behavior

What did August Comte believe?

Human behavior operates according to discoverable laws

Ivan Pavlov

A Russian psychologist

What did Ivan Pavlov prove?

Human behavior is based on responses to outside stimuli

How did Ivan Pavlov conduct his experiments?

Rang a bell every time the dog (test subject) was fed, causing the dog to associate the sound with food and to eventually begin salivating every time the bell was rung

What did Ivan Pavlov believe regarding the change of human behavior?

A person’s actions could be changed through training

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist/psychologist

What did Sigmund Freud discover?

Mentally ill patients could remember long forgotten things while under hypnosis

What did Sigmund Freud believe?

That people’s actions stemmed from unknown needs

What fields of research did Sigmund Freud’s ideas lead to?

Psychiatry and psychoanalysis

What changes of mortality rates and life expectancy occurred in the 1800s?

Infant mortality rate decreased, life expectancy increased

How were population and industry correlated?

World population began to grow as industry advanced

What was a result of the increase in population?

More people began to travel (via railroads and steamships)

People left their nations in search for what?

1) Higher paying jobs

2) Better working conditions

3) Freedom from persecution

4) To escape famine

What did new factories in the cities offer to the people?

Different opportunities for employment

Conditions of the living areas in the cities

Small, cramped, dirty, and frequently unfriendly neighbors

Urbanization

The movement of people into cities

What defines an urbanized nation?

When more people live in the cities than in rural areas

In which four primary areas of the word was urbanization taking place?

England, Germany, France, and the Americas

Why were the houses in the cities poorly constructed?

Most cities did not have building codes

What was the environmental impact of the factories?

They polluted the cities with smoke and ash

Describe the problem with sanitation in the cities

• Wastes were carried in ditches and open sewers from the public toilets, polluting the water supply

What two things prompted city planners to begin making changes regarding sanitation?

1) Germ theory 2) Development of the iron pipe

What reforms in planning were enacted in the cities?

1) Closed sewer lines created out of the iron pipe

2) Beginnings of garbage collection

3) Police and fire departments created

4) City parks

5) Railroad and bus (allowed people to live outside of the city but still come to the city for work, restrictive to the middle class though)

What was the government’s stance on public schools?

Supported for political reasons, like training people in citizenship, etc.

How were teachers trained?

Schools and colleges were offered all throughout Europe and the United States to train them

What was the effect of publicized education on the workers?

The next generation was able to read and write, allowing them to adapt to the changing technology

Which group of people had more restrictions on education?

Women — education for them was a topic of debate in the 1800s. However, they slowly gain access.