Chapter 13---Section 4—Living and Working Conditions



Chapter 13---Section 4—Living and Working Conditions

Economic Theories

-Mercantilism

-fixed amount of wealth

-to increase wealth…must take away from another country

-Physiocrats

-1700s Enlightenment economists

-natural laws should govern economics

-attempts to interfere would bring disaster

-A Smith

-“Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” 1776

-focused on the creation of wealth

-importance of both manufacturing + agriculture

-laws of economics

1. law of supply + demand

-prices + profits depended on amount of available goods + demand for them

2. law of competition

-as manufacturers compete they must reduce prices

-most efficient manufacturers will survive

-Free Enterprise

-people should be free to engage in any business they choose

-owners would make profits….

-workers would have jobs…

-consumers would buy better products at lower prices…

-unrestricted by laws…regulations…government controls

-Thomas Malthus

-Anglican clergyman-( professor of economics

-agreed with Smith

-wrote “An Essay on the Principle of Population” 1798

-believed human misery + poverty were inevitable

-population increased at a greater rate than death rate

-population was greatest obstacle to human progress

-David Ricardo

-English economist

-“Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” 1817

-Iron Law of Wages

-working class poverty is inevitable

-supply + demand determine wages

-when labor is abundant…wages remain low

-when labor is scarce…wages increase

-as population grows…more workers become available and wages drop

-Laissez-faire

-“let it be” or “leave things alone”

Reformers

-Humanitarians…people who work to improve the conditions of others

-ministers...writers…

-C Dickens

-“David Copperfield”

-describes his own miserable childhood

-terrible working conditions in mines + factories

-laws needed to regulate working conditions + hours

-Utilitarianism

-law was useful + good if it led to the greatest happiness of the greatest amount of people

-Jeremy Benthan

-nations justice and prison system

-education could help decide what was good

-John Stewart Mill

-government should work for the good of its citizens

-protect working children + improve housing + factory conditions

-full democracy for men + women regardless of social class or economic power

-“On the Subject of Women” 1869

-support for womens rights

-promotion of education + individual liberty

Early Reform Laws

-Factory Act of 1802

-shortened hours + reduced improved conditions for children in cotton mills

-had no means of enforcement

-Factory Act of 1833

-corrected error of 1802 + extended to all textile mills

-prohibited from hiring under 9

-children 9-13 could only work 8 hours a/day…6 days/week

-Ten Hours Act of 1847

-10 hour work day for women + children under 18

-laws were not enforced and conditions remained brutal

Collective Action

-workers band together demanding reform

-strikes

-groups of workers refusing to work

-protesting low wages and poor working conditions

-employers sometimes gave in…more often fired workers + hired new ones

-unions

-planned actions…combined demands of different types of workers in the same plant…collected dues

-illegal in France…Germany…Great Britain

-workers organized anyway

-Parliament passed the Combination Acts of 1799 + 1800

-workers who united + demand higher wages…shorter hours + better conditions could be imprisoned

-repealed in 1825

-unions legalized in 1870

-collective bargaining

-management + union reps began to discuss wages…hours + conditions

-agreements written into contracts lasting for a fixed period of time

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