The Moral Economists: R. H. Tawney, Karl Polanyi, E. P. Thompson, and the Critique of Capitalism

Synopsis

A Fresh Look At How Three Important Twentieth-century British Thinkers Viewed Capitalism Through A Moral Rather Than Material Lens. What's Wrong With Capitalism? Answers To That Question Today Focus On Material Inequality. Led By Economists And Conducted In Utilitarian Terms, The Critique Of Capitalism In The Twenty-first Century Is Primarily Concerned With Disparities In Income And Wealth. It Was Not Always So. The Moral Economists Reconstructs Another Critical Tradition, Developed Across The Twentieth Century In Britain, In Which Material Deprivation Was Less Important Than Moral Or Spiritual Desolation. Tim Rogan Focuses On Three Of The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Critics Of Capitalism--r.h. Tawney, Karl Polanyi, And E.p. Thompson. Making Arguments About The Relationships Between Economics And Ethics In Modernity, Their Works Commanded Wide Readerships, Shaped Research Agendas, And Influenced Public Opinion. Rejecting The Social Philosophy Of Laissez-faire But Fearing Authoritarianism, These Writers Sought Out Forms Of Social Solidarity Closer Than Individualism Admitted But Freer Than Collectivism Allowed. They Discovered Such Solidarities While Teaching Economics, History, And Literature To Workers In The North Of England And Elsewhere. They Wrote Histories Of Capitalism To Make These Solidarities Articulate. They Used Makeshift Languages Of Tradition And Custom To Describe Them Until Thompson Patented The Idea Of The Moral Economy. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. R. H. Tawney -- North -- Idealism -- Pluralism -- Guild Socialism -- Christian Socialism -- Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism -- History Of The Present -- 2. Karl Polanyi -- Hungary -- Red Vienna -- Fascism -- Beyond Jesus -- Great Transformation -- History Of Political Economy -- 3. Capitalism In Transition? -- Politics Of Democratic Socialism -- Welfare Economics -- Future Of Socialism? -- Planning For Freedom -- Education Act Of 1944 -- Definitions Of Culture -- 4. E. P. Thompson -- Romantics And Revolutionaries -- Stalinism -- Scrutiny Movement -- Socialist Humanism -- Making Of The English Working Class -- New Lefts -- After Marx -- Conclusion -- Small Is Beautiful? -- Individual Values And Social Choice -- Amartya Sen -- Histories Of The Future. Tim Rogan. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 205-252) And Index.