Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Contexts and possibilities
- Part II Texts
- 4 The Real Rights of Man, Thomas Spence, 1775
- 5 An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, William Ogilvie, 1782
- 6 Enquiry concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness, William Godwin, 1798
- 7 The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States, Charles Hall, 1805
- 8 A Lay Sermon Addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes on the Existing Distresses and Discontents, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
- 9 Report to the County of Lanark, Robert Owen, 1821
- 10 A Few Doubts as to the Correctness of Some Opinions Generally Entertained on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy, ‘Piercy Ravenstone’, 1821
- 11 An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; Applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth, William Thompson, 1824
- 12 Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital or the Unproductiveness of Capital Proved with Reference to the Present Combinations amongst Journeymen, Thomas Hodgskin, 1825
- 13 Rural Rides, William Cobbett, 1830
- 14 Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
7 - The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States, Charles Hall, 1805
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Contexts and possibilities
- Part II Texts
- 4 The Real Rights of Man, Thomas Spence, 1775
- 5 An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, William Ogilvie, 1782
- 6 Enquiry concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness, William Godwin, 1798
- 7 The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States, Charles Hall, 1805
- 8 A Lay Sermon Addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes on the Existing Distresses and Discontents, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
- 9 Report to the County of Lanark, Robert Owen, 1821
- 10 A Few Doubts as to the Correctness of Some Opinions Generally Entertained on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy, ‘Piercy Ravenstone’, 1821
- 11 An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; Applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth, William Thompson, 1824
- 12 Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital or the Unproductiveness of Capital Proved with Reference to the Present Combinations amongst Journeymen, Thomas Hodgskin, 1825
- 13 Rural Rides, William Cobbett, 1830
- 14 Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Hall tells us that his book is not concerned with the splendid few, but with the mass of people in civilized states. He draws a contrast between civilization and savagery; European states are civilized, the American Indians are his usual example of savages. When we contrast civilization with savagery, we are immediately struck, he claims, by the greater inequality in the former. He estimates the average family income of the labouring poor in Britain at £25 per year; that this is insufficient is proved by the lower average life expectancy of the poor. His estimate that the rich have twice the life expectancy of the poor is not unreasonable for the time. The higher mortality among the poor – and little children are worst affected – is caused mainly by inadequate diet; but overcrowded, unsanitary housing and working conditions hazardous to health are contributory factors. The mental and moral condition of the poor is even worse than the physical. They lack the means and leisure for instruction; and he quotes Adam Smith on the degrading effects of the division of labour. He takes issue with those who have argued that the poor are as happy, though in a different way, as the rich. Such a judgment is possible only from those who are ignorant of the state of the poor.
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- Information
- Socialism, Radicalism, and NostalgiaSocial Criticism in Britain, 1775-1830, pp. 146 - 163Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987