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Social Tensions at Early Stages of Industrialization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Wolfram Fischer
Wolfram Fischer
Affiliation:
Freie Universität, Berlin
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Extract

In the process of industrialization Western Europe went through a period of serious social tensions. For a while this phenomenon became of the utmost concern to all men engaged in socio-political thinking and action. In some countries one spoke - and sometimes still does - of “the social problem” or “the social question” in the singular to indicate its over-all importance.

Type
Social Movements
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , October 1966 , pp. 64 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1966

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References

1 Revised version of a paper which was presented to the “Group for Training and Research in Comparative Development” at Berkeley in 1962. For comments on it I am grateful to the members of the group, particularly to David S. Landes, now at Harvard, and to Hans Rosenberg, Berkeley.

2 The best bibliography is still Mombert, Paul, “Aus der Literatur iiber die soziale Frage und iiber die Arbeiterbewegung in der ersten Halfte des 19. Jhs.” in Archiv für die Geschichte des Sozialismus und der Arbeiterbewegung, Vol. 9 (1921)Google Scholar. A collection of sources is Schraepler, Ernst, Quellen zur Geschichte der sozialen Frage in Deutschland (Gottingen, 1955), Vol. 1 (2nd ed., 1960), Vol. 2 (1957)Google Scholar. (Cf. also the recent book of C. Jantke and D. Hilger, cited footnote 23.) Among the authors of books on the “Soziale Frage” are the leading German economists and sociologists of the late nineteenth century like Schmoller, Wagner, Tonnies, and Oppenheimer.

3 Stein, Ludwig, La question sociale au point de vue philosophique (Paris, 1900)Google Scholar. Biederlack, J., S.J., La question sociale (Louvain, 1910)Google Scholar. Ziegler, Theobald, La question sociale est une question morale (Paris, 1911)Google Scholar.

4 Shanahan, William Oswald, German Protestants Face the Social Question (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1954)Google Scholar.

5 Most outstanding is Blanc's, LouisL'Organisation du Travail (Paris, 1839)Google Scholar. The classical works of the early socialists like St. Simon, Cabet, Buchez, Proudhon, Fourier, etc., need not be listed here. For a convenient introduction see Leroy, Maxime, Histoire des idées sociales en France, 3 vols. (Paris, 1954)Google Scholar.

6 The first to introduce this notion of French socialism in Germany was Lorenz von Stein in his famous work: Socialismus und Communismus im heutigen Frankreich (First 1842). It is to be found in many other interpretations of European socialism and social reform movements, e.g., in Tönnies, Ferdinand, Die Entwicklung der sozialen Frage bis zum Weltkriege (Berlin, 1914), pp. 74–99Google Scholar.

7 See, e.g., Willey, Edmond, La question des salaires ou la question sociale (Paris, 1887)Google Scholar; Goyau, Georges, Le Pape, les catholiques et la question sociale (Paris, 1895)Google Scholar; Wuarin, Louis, Une vue d'ensemble de la question sociale (Paris, 1896)Google Scholar; Vazeille, , La question sociale est une question de méthode (Paris, 1897)Google Scholar; Mathiez, Alberth, La question sociale pendant la révolution française (Paris, 1905)Google Scholar; Reynaud, P. Stanislaus, La question sociale de la civilisation Paienne (Paris, 1906)Google Scholar; Gregoire, L., Le Pape, les catholiques et la question sociale (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar; Richard, Gaston, La morale et la question sociale. Conferences 1909–1910 (Paris, 1910)Google Scholar; Richard, Gaston, La question sociale et mouvement philosophique au XIXe siécle (Paris, 1911)Google Scholar; Renard, R. J., L'eglise et la question sociale (Paris, 1937)Google Scholar.

8 See e.g. Tiring, Gustavo, L'altruismo e la questione sociale (Livorno, 1891)Google Scholar; Santoma, César, La químíca come solución al problema social (Valencia, 1918)Google Scholar; Ascárate, Gumerzindo, Resumen de un debate sobre el problema social (Madrid, 1881)Google Scholar; Santonja, José Martinez, El problema social (Madrid, 1927)Google Scholar. As into French, the books of Biederlack and Ziegler have also been translated into Spanish: Biederlack, , La cuestión social (Burgos, 1908)Google Scholar; Ziegler, , La cuestión social es una cuestión moral (Barcelona, 1904)Google Scholar.

9 The Marxists refer to the “social question” generally in quotation marks or by adding a pejorative “so-called”. How wide-spread the use of the term was in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century is illustrated by the fact that Ludwig Stein subsumed the whole system and history of social philosophy under the heading of “Die Soziale Frage”. Stein, Ludwig, Die soziale Frage im Lichte der Philosophie. Vorlesungen iiber Sozialphilosophie und ihre Geschichte, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, 1903)Google Scholar.

10 See, e.g., Hobson, J. A., The Social Problem: Life and Work (London, 1902), p. 1Google Scholar, and Brooks, John Graham, The Social Unrest. Studies in Labor and Socialist Movements (New York, 1903), p. 107Google Scholar.

11 Two distinguished social scientists who hold this view are Mayo, Elton, The Social Problems of an Industrial Society (Boston, 1945), p. 1Google Scholar If.; and Bois, Cora Du, Social Forces in Southeast Asia, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), p. 22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 This does not, of course, apply to all textbooks in the same degree. An outstanding example: Elliot, Mabel A. and Merrill, Francis E., Social Disorganisation (New York, 1934)Google Scholar, 3rd ed. (1950). The awakening of a historical consciousness is indicated in books like: Neumeyer, Martin Henry, Social problems in a changing society (New York, 1953)Google Scholar; Bernard, Jessie Shirley, Social problems at mid-century; role, status, and stress in a context of abundance (New York, 1957)Google Scholar; Bredemeyer, Harry Charles, Social Problems in America, Costs and Casualities in an Acquisitive Society (New York, 1960)Google Scholar.

13 This has been seen in the U.S. mainly by social anthropologists like Bois, Cora Du, Social Forces in Southeast Asia, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1959)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mead, Margaret (ed.), Cultural Patterns and Technical Change (Paris, 1954)Google Scholar; Adams, Richard N. (and others), Social Change in Latin America Today. Its Implication for United States Policy (New York, 1960)Google Scholar.

14 Early examples of the theory that government, particularly the monarch, has to play an arbitrary role in social affairs, because it stands over, but not in society, are Robert von Mohl and Lorenz von Stein. For a comparison of both thinkers see Angermann, Erich, “Zwei Typen des Ausgleichs gesellschaftlicher Interessen durch die Staatsgewalt. Ein Vergleich der Lehren Lorenz Steins und Robert Mohls” in Werner Conze (ed.), Staat und Gesellschaft im deutschen Vormdrz 1815–1848 (Stuttgart, 1962), pp. 173–205Google Scholar. An elaborate system of corporate organizations was proposed by Karl Georg Winkelblech who acted in the revolution of 1848 as adviser of the German artisanmovement. See Karl Mario (Karl Georg Winkelblech), Untersuchung über die Organisation der Arbeit oder System der Weltökonomie (1850, 2nd ed., 1884).

15 For a certain extent this is even true for Thomas Carlyle who most resembles continental writers. A convenient selection of his social criticism is The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. A Collection of Carlyle's Social Writings, 2 vols. (New York, 1890–91)Google Scholar. The earlier American version is best represented by Thomas Jefferson. See The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by Julian P. Boyd and others (Princeton, N.J.). For the later combination of liberal optimism for progress and conservative criticism of that progress see Strong, Josiah, Our Country. Its Possible Future and its Present Crisis (New York, 1885)Google Scholar.

16 Some of the earliest to recognize this were industrial entrepreneurs like the Westfalian Friedrich Harkort. See his Bemerkungen über die Hindernisse der Civilisation und Emancipation der untern Classen (Elberfeld, 1844)Google Scholar. (Reprinted Frankfurt, Main, 1919, ed. by Julius Ziehen.) Partly reprinted in E. Schraepler, Quellen zur Geschichte der Sozialen Frage, I, pp. 51–53.

17 For Germany see, e.g., Schieder, Wolfgang, Anfänge der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung. Die Auslandsvereine im Jahrzehnt nach der Julirevolution von 1830 (Stuttgart, 1963)Google Scholar; and Frolinde Balser, , Sozial-Demokratie 1848&49–1863. Die erste deutsche Arbeiterorganisation “Allgemeine deutsche Arbeiterverbriiderung” nach der Revolution (Stuttgart, 1962)Google Scholar; for France and particularly Britain the literature on this topic is abundant. Most convenient are: E. Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrières et de l'ndustrie en France de 1789–1870, 3 vols.; for this period vol. I and II (Paris, 1904); Cole, G. D. H., Attempts at general union; a study in British trade union history, 1818–1834 (London, 1953)Google Scholar and the first volume of his History of Socialist Thought: The Forerunners 1789–1850 (London, 1953)Google Scholar; Aspinall, Arthur, The early English trade unions; documents from the Home Office Papers of the Public Record Office (London, 1949)Google Scholar; Wearmouth, Robert F., Methodism and the working-class movements of England 1800–1850 (London,1937)Google Scholar; for the U.S. see, e.g., Norman Ware, Industrial worker 1840–1860; Hugins, Walter, Jacksonian Democracy and the Working Class. A Study of the New York Workingmen's Movement 1829–1837 (Stanford, 1960)Google Scholar.

18 For Germany see: Shanahan, W. O.. German Protestants face the Social Question. For Britain: Christianity and Industrial Problems. Being the Report of the Archbishop's Fifth Committee of Inquiry (London, 1919)Google Scholar. For France: Collard, , Le Mouvement social dans le Protestantisme François (Thése, Dijon, 1909)Google Scholar. For U.S.A.: May, Henry, Protestant Churches and Industrial America (New York, 1949)Google Scholar.

19 May, op. cit., p. 29.

20 May, op. cit., p. 6.

21 For Germany see: Ritter, Emil, Die katholisch-soziale Bewegung in Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert und der Volksverein (Köln, 1954)Google Scholar. For Switzerland: Beuret, Gregor, Die katholisch-soziale Bewegung in der Schweiz 1848–1919 (Winterthur, 1959)Google Scholar. For France exsee: Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste, Les Débuts du Catholicism Social en France (1822–1870) (Paris, 1951)Google Scholar; and Georges Hoog, Histoire du Catholicisme Sociale en France (1871–1931) (Paris). For the encyclicals see: Wynne, John S.J., The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII (New York, 1902)Google Scholar; Two Basic Social Encyclicals (Washington, D.C., 1943)Google Scholar. For Latin and other editions see: Carlen, M. Claudia (comp.), A guide to the encyclicals of the Roman Pontiffs from Leo XIII to the Present Day (1878–1937) (New York, 1939), pp. 68fGoogle Scholar., 198f.; Gilson, Etienne, The Church speaks to the Modern World. The Social Teachings of Leo XIII (New York, Image-Books, 1954)Google Scholar; Fremantle, Anne (ed.), The papal encyclicals in their historical context (New York, 1956), pp. 166–195, 228–235Google Scholar. For the earlier period: Grégoire, L., Le Pâpe, les Catholiques et la Question Sociale (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar.

22 An interesting indication of the lasting concern of the church for the social problems in newly developing areas is the Brazilian edition of pater Van Gestel's, C.Introduction à I'Enseignement Social de I'Eglise et la Doctrine Sociale de I'Eglise under the title A Igrejo ea Questao Social(Rio de Janeiro, 1956)Google Scholar.

23 A classical account is Toynbee, Arnold (sen.), Lectures on the industrial revolution (London, 1884)Google Scholar, Chapter 9: The Growth of Pauperism (Beacon-Paperback, 1956), pp. 67–78Google Scholar. The most recent German record is Jantke, Carl and Hilger, Dietrich, Die Eigentumslosen. Der deutsche Pauperismus und die Emanzipationskrise in Darstellungen und Deutungen der zeitgenössischen Literatur (Freiburg/München, 1965)Google Scholar. Jantke stresses the singularity of the pauperism phenomenon during the early stage of industrialization and wishes to distinguish it from that of former periods (cf. Ibid., pp. 7–8).

24 On the introduction of this term from the French into the German see Conze, W., “Vom ‘Pöbel’ zum ‘Proletariat’. Sozialgeschichtliche Vpraussetzungen für den Sozialismus in Deutschland”, in Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 41 (1954)Google Scholar. Notice the common distinction between the “ouvrier”, “Arbeiter” as a member of the lower classes and the “proletair”, “proletariat” as a “classe dangereuse”. See Chévalier, Louis, Classes laboreuses et classes dangereuses a Paris pendant la première moitié du XIXe siècle (Paris, 1958)Google Scholar; and Fischer, W., Der Staat und die Anfänge der Industrialisierung in Baden, vol. I (Berlin, 1962), p. 335Google Scholar .

25 Hitze, F., Die Arbeiterfrage und die Bestrebungen zu ihrer Lösung. Nebst Anlage: Die Arbeiterfrage im Lichte der Statistik (Mönchen-Gladbach, 1902), p. 3Google Scholar.

26 Encyclia Quadragesimo Anno n. 82. A competent interpretation is Nell-Breuning, Oswald von S.J., Die soziale Enzyklika. Erläuterungen zum Weltrundschreiben Papst Pius XI. über die gesellschaftliche Ordnung (Köhl, 1932)Google Scholar. The English ed. of Nell-Breuning's, book, Reorganization of social economy, ed. by Dempsey, B. W. (New York, 1936)Google Scholar, contains also the text of the encyclical, pp. 401–422.

27 Conze, W., Das Spannungsfeld von Stoat und Gesellschaft im deutschen Vormarz 1815–1848 (Stuttgart, 1962), p. 248Google Scholar.

28 See, e.g., Gerschenkron, Alexander, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass., 1962)Google Scholar.

29 Cf. Landes, David, “Japan and Europe: Contrasts in Industrialization”, in Lockwood, W. W. (ed.), The State and Economic Enterprise in Japan (Princeton, N.J., 1965), pp. 93–182Google Scholar.

30 Bois, Cora Du, Social Forces in Southeast Asia, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1959)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Adams, Richard N. and others, Social Change in Latin America today. Its Implications for the United States Policy (New York, 1960)Google Scholar; Stucken, Rudolf (ed.), Untersuchungen einzelner Entwicklungsländer. Peru, Tunesien, Ägypten und Syrien (Berlin, 1960)Google Scholar.

31 Illustrative examples are provided by Behrendt, Richard F., ”The Uprooted: A Guatemala Sketch“, ih The New Mexico Quarterly, 19 (1949), pp. 25–31Google Scholar; Siegel, Morris, ”Resistance to Cultural Change in Western Guatemala“, in Sociology and Social Research, 25 (1941)Google Scholar; Willems, Emilio, ”Some Aspects of Cultural Conflicts and Acculturation in Southern Rural Brazil“, in Rural Sociology, 7 (1942)Google Scholar. All three articles are reprinted in Readings in Latin American Social Organizations and Institutions, ed. by Leonard, Olen E. and Loomis, Charles P. (Michigan State College Press, 1953), pp. 281–295Google Scholar.

32 See among others, Handlin, Oscar, The Newcomers: Negroes and Puerto Ricans in a changing metropolis (Cambridge, Mass., 1959)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 This can be seen from many autobiographical records, e.g. from Nkrumah, Kwame, Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (New York, 1957)Google Scholar.

34 Examples are to be found in the UNESCO Publication, Industrialization and Urbanization in Africa South of the Sahara, ed. by Ford, Daryl (Paris, 1956)Google Scholar.

35 An interesting indication for this is the lack of ”socialist consciousness“ and ”socialist work-ethos“ which constitutes one of the biggest problems of communist governments. In our terminology it indicates that the ”demoralization“ which is the outcome of the destruction of the established ”work-ethos“ could hitherto not be overcome.

36 Bendix, Reinhard, Work and Authority in Industry. Ideologies of Management in the Course of Industrialization (New York, 1956)Google Scholar. A counterpart to this book, which deals with the ”realities“ of management in early industrialization, is Pollard, Sidney, The Genesis of Modern Management. A Study of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain (London, 1965)Google Scholar.