Personal and Social Costs of Industrialization in England in the 1860’s, according to K. Marx

Abstract

Economic history devotes much attention to economic achievements of particular countries but it pays little attention to the costs which were connected with these economic advancements. Karl Marx, an experienced observer of the 19th cent economic growth, described in his Capital social costs borne by the English population, in particular its poorest classes, during industralization. Although his analysis dealt only with the English situation he thought he had discovered a principal holding true for more than one country. For when he wrote: „de te fabule narratur” he meant other countries.

The article deals with such costs as: low wages of the poor classes, bad living conditions, women's work as a result of husbands' low wages, mothers’ neglect of children caused by their outside work, hard and tiring work of the workers in general, high prices of food and basic articles, obstacles to economic emigration, condemning small thefts and condoning corruption, the luxury of the ruling class and the hypocrisy of the press.