Redeeming the Industrial Revolution as benefiting women and children

Mises Institute ^ | November 17, 2011 | Wendy McElroy

[aone]

A destructive myth has wrapped itself around laissez-faire capitalism. It is the erroneous notion that the free market harms the "vulnerable" within society; specifically, it is said to harm women and children by cruelly exploiting their labor. The opposite is true. Laissez-faire capitalism offers the one element that the vulnerable need most to survive and to advance: choice. The most liberating choice individuals can have is the ability to support themselves and not be dependent upon anyone else for the food going into their mouths.

Using this myth as an entering assumption, historians have been extremely harsh in analyzing one of the most liberating phenomena in Western history: the Industrial Revolution. From the 18th through the 19th century, the world surged forward in technology, industry, transportation, trade, and life-changing innovations like cheap cotton clothing. Within two centuries, the worldwide per capita income is estimated to have increased tenfold and the population sixfold. The Nobel Prize–winning economist Robert Emerson Lucas Jr. stated, "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth…. Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before." The dramatic advance in prosperity and knowledge was achieved without social engineering or centralized control. It came from allowing human creativity and self-interest to run free at a glorious gallop.

Abuses certainly occurred. Some can be laid at the door of governmental attempts to harness the energy and profits of the period. Other abuses occurred simply because every society includes inhumane or amoral people who act badly, especially for profit; this is not a criticism of the Industrial Revolution but of human nature. Moreover, economic advances far outstripped changes in culturally Victorian attitudes; in the 18th century, women and children were viewed as second-class citizens and, sometimes, as chattel. It was the engine of economic revolution that dragged the culture and law into similarly dramatic changes. When women left the countryside to seek employment and education, they became a social force that could not be denied. Thus, women's rights advanced remarkably during the late 19th century and could not have done so without the Industrial Revolution.

Unfortunately, the salutary connection between laissez-faire capitalism and women's rights has been lost. During the latter part of the 20st century, mainstream feminists crusaded to reverse the engine that contributed so heavily to women's equal status; instead of championing freedom in the market place, they embedded privilege for women into the law in the name of equality. The free market and laissez-faire were demonized as tools of oppression that required remedy through affirmative action, sexual-harassment laws, antidiscrimination lawsuits, quota systems, and a myriad of other workplace regulations.

During that process, the Industrial Revolution has been portrayed as the Great Satan in regard to the welfare of women and children. The portrayal relies upon the misrepresentation of fact and upon ideology.

Misreprenting Facts Regarding Children...

[left that other site]

The demonization of the Industrial Revolution was apparent in both of Karl Marx’s works. In the Communist Manifesto he blatantly put forth the idea that industry was oppressive to the worker. I remember reading that in High School, and it seemed stupid to me, because without industry, there wouldn’t be any workers to oppress! I fought with my teacher over that one! LOL!

That was back in the 60’s.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

The single most beneficial event to humans in history was the spread of Capitalism. The collective wealth and well-being of people exposed to it increased dramatically over historical levels. And not only did wealth increase, but health and living conditions. And when Capitalism is stamped out, like it was in Russia and other Communist countries, the standards of living took a nose dive. People literally went back to riding around in horse-drawn carts. Capitalism is God-given.