No writer expressed the hopes, fears, expectations, and values of nineteenth-century Europe’s middle class more faithfully and successfully than the Scottish-born biographer, essayist, and businessman Samuel Smiles. Born into the family of a papermaker and shopkeeper, Smiles received a medical degree, worked as a journalist in Leeds, and held several managerial posts in the railroad industry. He wrote biographies, histories, and travel narratives, and achieved worldwide fame through his inspirational books on morality and personal behavior. Although it had been rejected by six publishers, his book Self-Help (1859) became a bestseller that went through dozens of editions and was translated into seventeen languages, including Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. With an upbeat message that hard work, discipline, and high moral standards guaranteed success, Self-Help was followed by Character (1871), Thrift (1875), and Duty (1880). With his life spanning the century that saw the triumph of the middle-class values he championed, he died in 1904 at the age of ninety-three.In the document excerpts I would like you to read, the first two sections, “Self-Help and Individualism” and “Habits of a Successful Men” are from Self-Help; the third section, “Faults of the Poor,” is from Thrift (you can read all of the sections by clicking here).
After you finish reading the document excerpts, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: Why does Smiles consider government incapable of solving the social and economic problems confronting early industrial England? In his view what should be government’s proper role and function? How would Smiles define the word individualism? What are the components of the “middle-class ethic” discussed by Smiles? According to Smiles, who is responsible for the poverty in England? In his view, what can be done about it? If given a chance to testify before one of the parliamentary committees about the effects of industrialization on the working class, what might Smiles have said? How do Smile’s views resemble and differ from those of Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations? Your thoughts...
4 comments:
hes saying that it isnt right that people are having all their work done for them. He says that people need to improve or they will become nothing
it compares a lot to what adam smith says in that it's kinda every man for himself. he thinks that people are responsible for their own destinies, and that institutions can't really help to much. that's like how adam smith thought that governments should stay out of economic affairs.
this is very comparable to adam smiths theories, like alina said. instead of competition it is more every man for himself. if you let somebody else do all your work and jobs, you will have nothing left. the only thing really similar would be that institutions should not be in private life, but i think the government should get into personal lives if needed, like how they passed child labor laws and saved a lot of childrens lives. that was a very good government involved decision.
He is basically saying that every person needs to defend for themself. He says that they should not be dependent on other people and if they want something done than that they should do it themselves.
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