Man Is The Creature Of Circumstances

In 1879 Henry George wrote an article titled “Progress and Poverty”. In this article he discussed the ongoing industry and he stated that “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent.

The sloth of governments abroad have led Utopians to pursue lives of group work rather than personal property. In Book I, Hythloday confronts the wealthy as "rapacious, wicked, and useless, while the poor are unassuming, modest

He discusses all that is wrong with the wealthy individuals and how they are spoiled. He makes his argument by revealing how wealth is disposed of, “There are but three modes in which surplus wealth can be disposed of. It can all be left to the families of the descendants; or it can be bequeathed for public purposes; or, finally, it can be administrated during their lives by its possessors” (3). The author is Andrew Carnegie and intended audience is the general public but more specifically are those of wealth and make them conscious of how surplus wealth is disposed of. This is a primary source and reveals that even though this was how the world was a decade ago, it is quite similar and not much has

William Graham Sumner wrote an article in 1883 to directly address this dilemma, called, What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other. In this article, Sumner uses what at the time was scientific reasoning to back up his argument on whether or not certain groups should help fight the battles of other groups. Sumner distinguished the upper class from the lower class, and thought that the upper class should not help out the lower class. He believed that the upper class consisted of all hard workers and if they helped the lower class, it would only make them “lazier” and more dependent on the upper classes’ help ( ).

Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth” and Samuel Gompers’ letter to Judge Peter Grosscup offer different opinions concerning the course that people of different economic standings should take in regards to power and social stature. However, both works mean to steer society in what seems to be opposite directions. Carnegie focuses more on how the wealthy in the society should take the seemingly philanthropic approach whereas Gompers’ offers a more organizational and structured point of view.

Supposedly, both the individuals with ascribed statuses with hereditary wealth and the poor and homeless have equal chances to become successful although, Orestes Bronwnson in The Laboring Classes, pointed out that this is not true. “Do the young man inheriting ten thousand pounds and the one whose inheritance is merely the gutter, start even?” (219). As a result, the harsh separation of the rich and the poor, where capitalism thrives and,” the division of the community into two classes, one which owns the funds…the other provides the labor” (216). The inhumane apprehension of a capitalist society that keeps its workers “in a permanent system, [has] given preference to the slave system” (214) says a lot about the evils of capitalism corresponding with the false American Dream. An outcome of capitalism is the frustrating rivalry between the poor. “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining the country. The competition is maddening”

Since the beginning of civilization, unfortunately, there has always been some type of ranking when it came to social status. Usually, there was a small group of wealthy elites who ran everything, and then there was the large group of people who were not rich. One would think that the rich would take care of the poor, but often times the rich kept to themselves and let the poor suffer. This can be seen all over history from the time of the Egyptians to the feudal system of the middle ages, to even more current times.This holds true when diving into the 1800 and 1900’s. One would see that like there were very few social elites and a plethora of people who were not wealthy by a stretch. There were times when the rich would participate in activities that would make it seem like they were helping the poor when in actuality they were not doing the slightest. An example of this can be seen in Andrew Carnegie's “The Gospel of Wealth.” In “The Gospel of Wealth” Carnegie explains what one should do to help society and the poor, but what it is is a way for the wealthy to feel better about themselves.

This onslaught of capitalism directly revolutionized modern industrialism as well as the industrial city. Machines morphed the predominately agricultural nation to a herd of factory and corporate workers. Swarms of people, both native and immigrant, flocked to major cities. “The present century has been marked by a prodigious increase in wealth-producing power. The utilization of steam and electricity, the introduction of improved processes and labor saving machinery, the greater subdivision and grander scale of production, the wonderful facilitation of exchanges, have multiplied enormously the effectiveness of labor.”(George, p.20) The major problem with this newfound industrialism was the way in which the workforce was treated. Capitalism was supposed to provide a way out, a way ascend the financial and social staircase, if you worked hard enough. This however was not the case, if you were a loyal, hardworking employee you simply got to keep your job, and if you were in any way injured or incompetent you were fired.

During the time of the Renaissance, the nature of man, in Europe, went through a rebirth. The idea that the nature of man is unique upon the person was established. The core basis of all men is not the same. Different men are comprised of various types of talents, and not every person has the exact same talents. In addition, human beings strive to live their lives a certain way, which is usually different from their neighbor.

To start off an opposing effect during the Industrial Revolution was that many workers were treated poorly. For example, in document one, two men are talking. Cooper,who was a factory worker, stated that “they had just one period of forty minutes in the sixteen hours” to eat a meal, and not to mention that they were frequently strapped to keep awake and moving. To start off no one should ever be strapped to stay awake; if the governors had a problem with them staying awake they should have given them less working hours. Secondly being given forty minutes in sixteen hours is not right, workers can most likely die from starvation due to that.

In Thomas More’s Utopia, the elimination of property and money has all citizens working for the commonwealth. It is “where every man has a right to everything. They all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want anything. For among them there is no unequal distribution so that no man is poor, none in necessity and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich” (More 81). More’s Utopia also encourages a balance of power within society. It is where an individual, in a position of power, is not “as idle as drones, that subsist on other men’s labor” (More 7) It is where that individual gives “more regard to the riches of his country than to his wealth” (More 21).

The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie was written in 1889. In Carnegie’s article, he initially discusses how wealth plays a role in the ties of the rich and the poor. He says that they live in a world where money was either passed down from father to son or given to the state. Carnegie’s ideas at the time were considered new. In his point of view, wealth can be put into better use by society than the state. He further expresses his idea that the rich should undertake in the concern for human welfare and advancement. Carnegie also emphasizes his contempt for the idea of spending capital with lack of responsibility. The wealthy should distribute their wealth that doesn’t encourage anything similar to sloth or drunkenness.

(27) There is a demarcation between the classes beginning with the rich elite, the upper upper class and the lower upper class. Those with inherited wealth are placed above those with self-earned wealth while those with great wealth are distinguished from those with a moderate amount of wealth. They are stable within their ranks, not dependent upon the economic climate of the country to sustain their positions. The upper middle class belongs to those people who are doing well and whose position also is not likely to change with the economic climate of the country. The middle class is comprised of people who are relatively comfortable and can afford a minimal number of luxuries. The working class can afford very few luxuries and are just getting by. Their position, like the middle class is subject to change with socio-economic changes in the country. The working poor cannot actually make ends meet and often become displaced workers with the ability to plummet down into the lowest class. They are not usually able to access the minimal comforts of the working class. The Underclass is a desperate position whose ranks lead substandard lives with no amenities and little chance for mobility.

The lower class, also known as the “working class”, were those individuals whom partook on the strenuous and dangerous jobs. These individuals were expected to work each and every day for multiple hours as a time and without a break. Although they worked extremely hard, the lower class was not paid well for their effort. Instead, they received the very minimum wage that one could, and were expected to live off of this (Allingham, 2002). Because the people of this class did not have as much money, their material items such as; housing, clothing, and food were very minimum. Even with the small amount of income that they received, the “lower section of the society was also burdened with numerous taxes that made their life miserable.” (Bishal, 2008) Lastly, the working classes remained shut out from the political process, making these individuals in reality separated from the rest of society (Allingham, 2002).

There are many arguments that have generated from the assumption that, human being is a product of his environment likewise; (McLeod, 2013), “nothing they say happen by chance, whatever a man does or say must have being thought about beforehand”. It is not unconscious, the theory made use of conflictual statement for instance, every behavior and feeling is deeply rooted in the unconscious mind, which means, what one does, is not being aware or not preplan, also, childhood experiences are also affects a person’s behavior and feeling. All the experiences a man has right from childhood age influence the character or personality of a person. It is widely argued that all behavior has a cause, whether conscious or unconscious action has being preconceived or determined. As long as nothing is new, whatever happens to a man has being happening in the past, the same scenarios applicable to attitude. Little information or experience exposed to right from childhood age does make impact on the later development of a person.