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Business Guide Or Safe Methods Of Business

Decent Essays

People are said to be products of their time and therefore different works of literature can represent the views of the society by which they are derived. These works also demonstrate what ideals were most highly valued by a society. The ‘self-help’ guide titled The Business Guide; or Safe Methods of Business by J.E. Hansford, published in 1892, is a definite example of this rule. The book contains several short articles and listicles which give advice for how successful business should be performed as well as promoting what it meant, per Hansford, what it meant to be a good businessman. The book lists various attitudes, behaviors and, practices which were highly valued at the time mainly by the present literate middle-class population. By …show more content…

Savage/barbarian being a commonly used slur to reference racial and sometimes religious minorities in Canada at the time. Hansford promotes politeness by means of being cheerful, respecting differences of opinion and, sincerity and although there is truth to the matter of being polite to customers, business partners, and employees to better business dealings, the reference to “savages” is a dehumanizing and racist term and was used to subtly promote the ideals of the literate middle class as a European dominant society. Therefore, Hansford’s Business Guide promotes the idea of successful business persons as following the ideals of the middle class of Victorian Era Canada by which a successful business person, must be of a middle class European descent.
Throughout the Business Guide, Hansford also promotes ideals pertaining to religion in order to succeed in business. Hansford explicitly states that to succeed in business one must “love your god and fellow men” as well as that “an honest man is the noblest work of god” all of which are brought forward in parts pertaining to proper behaviors of a man to be successful in business. This is reflective of a homogeneous Eurocentric audience, promoting god and religion as a crucial position in both business life and society as a whole; god is seen as one of the most important parts of everyday life. One of the quotes from the section of “Good Advice

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