Unit 7: New Ideas Come Fromthe Industrial Revolution

Find Out Questions• FOQ#1: Why did some people think capitalism

was such a great economic system?

• FOQ#2: What were the new ideas from theIndustrial Revolution and why did many believethey were necessary?

Textbook Help

• Chapter 20.4 is a really helpful section tobetter understand the ideas of capitalism,utilitarianism, and socialism.

• FOQ#3: What issues caused the need forchanges to occur in Russia during theearly 1900s? (17.4)

• FOQ#4: Why were the BolshevikRevolution and the Russian Civil War suchimportant events? (17.4)

• FOQ#5: What circumstances allowedleaders like Stalin and Lenin to rise topower? How did it turn out for the people?(18.4)

FOQ#1: Why did some people thinkcapitalism was such a great economic

system?

• The Industrial Revolution got a lot of peoplethinking about the best way to conduct business.– Many people thought that the government should do

everything possible to guarantee the success ofbusiness. That was called mercantilism.

– Others thought the government should NOT interfereand allow businesses to succeed and fail on theirown. That was called laissez-faire.

• Both of these economic philosophies werecapitalism in that money (capital) would beinvested in business growth that was privatelyowned.

Capitalism is about profit!

FOQ#1: Continued

• Laissez-faire capitalism became the mostpopular economic philosophy by the upperclasses.– An economist named Adam Smith said that

businesses would work best if left to the “naturalforces” of supply and demand.

– While believing in laissez-faire, David Ricardo andThomas Malthus feared that too much competitionand too little resources would keep the working classin continued poverty.

FOQ#2: What were the important ideasthat came from the unfairness of

capitalism?

• Many reform minded leaders agreed withMalthus and Ricardo and feared thatLaissez-faire capitalism would lead toworking-class misery.

• These leaders wanted government to be abig part of protecting the welfare and theinterests of the majority of the people.

• Most Working Class supported this idea.

Religion and Reforms

• Protestant religious groups concerned withimproving the social environment werecalled Evangelicals.

• Many were in the British government andwere able to support and pass laws toimprove the lives of the working class.– William Wilberforce supported a law that

ended slavery in the British Empire by 1833

– Lord Shaftsbury promoted laws that led tothe end of abusive labor practices for childrenand women in factories and mines

Secular Reformers

• There were many secular (non-religious)reformers who wanted government to step in toprotect possible abuses from laissez-fairecapitalism.

– Jeremy Bentham advocated (supported)utilitarianism that said society should work for “thegreatest happiness for the greatest number ofcitizens.”

– John Stuart Mill promoted the idea that governmentshould intervene (get involved) in taxing income forthe purpose of redistributing wealth.

Socialist Revolution

• Some Europeans didn’t believe in laissez-faire capitalism at all.

• They believed in a different economicsystem were all the wealth and productionof a society should be owned and sharedby that same society.

• This philosophy was called socialism.

Socialism continued

• Early socialist experiments by RobertOwen looked to create model (ideal)communities were competition would bereplaced by cooperation and the citizenswould equally share in the success of thecommunity.

Socialism still continued

• Some socialist philosophers went evenfurther concerning their ideas aboutimproving society.

• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were twosuch radical thinkers who believed thatpositive change for the working classcould only come from violent revolution.

• The Working Class strongly supportedradical change in Europeansociety…Socialism was radical change!

End of Day #2

• Review your notes, think and/or talk aboutthe main ideas, then fill in the summarysquare.