Living and Working Conditions during the IR Austin

Philosophers and their Ideas Part 1 • Adam Smith • Law of supply and

Philosophers and their Ideas Part 2 • David Ricardo • Iron Law of Wages:

Worker Strikes When workers thought they were being paid too little or their working

The Union Movement. In an attempt to strengthen their political position, workers sought ways

Laissez-Faire Let Do or leave things alone. The government should not interfere with the

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Living and Working Conditions during the IR Austin Makey P 1 19. 4

Philosophers and their Ideas Part 1 • Adam Smith • Law of supply and demand: when an item is scarce, and is in high demand, the price of said item will rise, then when the item is plentiful, the price of the item will drop. • Law of Competition: to get people to buy their product, manufacturers will have to either reduce the price, improve the quality, or both. • Free enterprise. • Thomas Malthus • in his book, An Essay on the Principle of Population, he said that population increase is the greatest threat to human progress. Human misery and poverty are inevitable because despite famines and wars, humans multiply faster than the food supply can keep up with.

Philosophers and their Ideas Part 2 • David Ricardo • Iron Law of Wages: In his book, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo wrote that supply and demand determine wages. When labor is readily available, wages sink. But when labor is hard to find, wages rise. • John Stuart Mill • Mill believed that the government should work for the well being of all of its citizens. He didn’t stand for a system that left working citizens in poverty. • Individual Liberty: he believed all citizens should be able to think as they pleased without punishment.

Worker Strikes When workers thought they were being paid too little or their working conditions were too bad, they left their work and went on strike. The strikers made demands of their employers but they were not always met. The employers would either fire the strikers and hire new employees, wait them out until they returned to work, or in the best cases, met the demands of the strikers.

The Union Movement. In an attempt to strengthen their political position, workers sought ways to organize permanently. They started unions that would collect dues and use the money to fund workers while they were on strike. The unions would plan the strikes and organize demands for the different types of workers in the same factory

Laissez-Faire Let Do or leave things alone. The government should not interfere with the factories or small business. This idea led to more trade because it was less regulated