Socialism, Radicalism, and Nostalgia
Social Criticism in Britain, 1775-1830

An account of the flowering of radical social criticism in Britain during the first industrial revolution.

William Stafford (Author)

9780521339896, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 April 1987

316 pages
21.5 x 13.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.407 kg

The years of the first industrial revolution saw a remarkable flowering of radical social criticism in Britain. This is a study of the ideas that emerged then and of the social and intellectual conditions from which they developed. Dr Stafford begins in Part I by presenting what will be seen as a very valuable general account of the historical and cultural setting, showing how the language of social debate had been affected by intellectual developments and the increasingly rapid transformations of society. Then in Part II he discusses ten major critics of British society, from Thomas Spence to William Cobbett, who represent a wide range of political opinion from anarchism to Tory radicalism. Dr. Stafford takes a key text by each author, sets out its argument, and analyzes it both critically and historically, showing the particular influences that shaped it and revealing the ways in which the social thought of the time resembles or diverges from our own. This book will help to recover from unwarranted neglect this important tradition of writing that did much to form subsequent thinking about society. It will make a valuable contribution to the study of the literature and the social and intellectual history of the period.

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Part I. Contexts and Possibilities: 2. General context
3. Mental furniture
Part II. Texts: 4. The real rights of man
5. An essay on the right of property in land
6. Enquiry concerning political justice and its influence on morals and happiness
7. The effects of civilization on the people in European States
8. A lay sermon addressed to the higher and middle classes on the existing distresses and discontents
9. Report to the county of Lanark
10. A few doubts as to the correctness of some opinions generally entertained on the subjects of population and political economy
11. An inquiry into the principles of the distribution of wealth most conductive to human happiness
applied to the newly proposed system of voluntary equality of wealth
12. Labour defended against the claims of capital or the unproductiveness of capital proved with reference to the present combinations amongst journeymen
13. Rural rides
14. Conclusion
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]