Why this book?
- This book helps the reader examine the relationship between historiography and political judgments about capitalism.
- This work analyzes the question of measuring workers' standard of living during the Industrial Revolution with a historical approach.
- The book demonstrates the importance of historical comparison and paying attention to the real alternatives available to people in the past.
- This collection is important for understanding Friedrich Hayek's views on the role of ideas and narratives in politics.
About the book
"Capitalism and the Historians" is a collection of essays first published in 1954 that examines historical narratives about the Industrial Revolution and the social consequences of capitalism. Friedrich August von Hayek is the editor of the book and has written an important introduction on the relationship between history, public opinion, and politics; however, the book's essays are not solely by him, and authors such as T. S. Ashton, Louis Hacker, W. H. Hutt, and Bertrand de Jouvenel are also featured.
The book's main subject is how our perception of the past can affect our judgment of economic and political systems. By critiquing certain negative narratives of the Industrial Revolution, the authors emphasize that the examination of workers' conditions must be conducted with regard to the actual pre-industrial conditions and the options available to them, not merely by today's welfare standards.
The book's structure begins with a critique of the historiography of capitalism and then proceeds to examine the economic evidence concerning workers' lives, the factory system, and the standard of living in Britain. The book's primary value lies not only in its defense of capitalism but also in raising questions about the method of history writing, the selection of evidence, and how public narratives of the past are formed.
This book is suitable for readers interested in economic history, liberal thought, the controversies surrounding the Industrial Revolution, and the role of ideas in shaping political attitudes.
From the table of contents
- 1Introduction
- 2The Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living of English Workers, 1790 to 1830
- 3The Factory System
- 4Historians and Capitalism