1. Changing the Industrial World
Why did Capitalism cause reform movements?

2. Poor workers Adam Smith Capitalist Rich Owners
Laissez-Faire Economics/Capitalism
Laissez-Faire is an economic philosophy that allowed owners to set working conditions w/o interference from the govt.
Adam Smith defended Laissez-Faire in his book The Wealth of Nations
Smith argued a free-market, w/ no govt regulation would create competition, causing better products & wages
Prices would be regulated by supply & demand
Smith’s ideas become known as capitalism
Others argue unregulated capitalism will not protect workers & encourages greed
Poor workers
Adam Smith
Capitalist
Rich Owners

3. Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill
Utilitarians founded by Jeremy Bentham, argued we should judge ideas on usefulness & create greatest good for greatest number
Utilitarians said govt should regulate capitalism, since it wasn’t good for the greatest number
1830s: John Stuart Mill now takes over Utilitarian movement
Mill writes about happiness & harm principle, gov should promote things that create greatest happiness and regulate harmful things
Mill writes unregulated capitalism is not creating happiness but harm to the workers
To fix the problem, Mill felt the government should create an equal division of profits
Mill also favored women’s rights, education reform & prison reforms
John Stuart Mill

4. Utopianism Robert Owen Utopian
British factory owner Robert Owen was shocked by the misery and poverty of the working class
Owen built houses near his factory and rented them out to his workers for low rates
Owen prohibited children under 10 from working in the factories and provided free schooling
1824: Owen traveled to the US and tried to set up a Utopian system in New Harmony, Indiana but it only lasted three years
Robert Owen
Utopian