Throughout world history, we have seen an infinite variety of different cultures and people groups come and go, however the incredible prosperity of the West makes one wonder, what set them apart from other civilizations, and why of all places did the vast industry, commodities, wealth, and economic power begin in Britain. Many people have different ideas on these events, such as that Britain had the slave trade, or that it had the natural resources that allowed them to get ahead, but in the following I will not only debunk these explanations, I will show that the real reason for western prosperity was the respect for the working class. Therefore, due to the changed attitude toward the working class, western culture thrived like no other nation or group.
This idea was first thought of by professor Deirdre McCloskey, a former student at the of University Chicago, and author of the Bourgeois Trilogy. The basic thesis to this claim, is that due to the new respect for the working class, or the Bourgeois as McCloskey calls them, they were able to develop more and more economic power, be it through new scientific developments, or just utilizing resources better. Now, prior to this idea, people had several theories to explain the wealth of the western world, such as the slave trade or the natural resources. In the first place it could not be the slave trade because other cultures had practiced it for centuries, and, especially in the west, it was not very profitable, between housing, feeding, and buying slaves, the owners would have to work them hard to get their money out, and often slaves would die or run away, and even if they did work, they would not put their hearts into it, whereas, if done by hired workers, they would work to the best of their abilities in order to earn the most income. Thus, it could not have been the slave trade that caused this, but other academics say that it might be the natural resource near Britain, but this argument doesn’t hold water either, because many other places had natural resources far richer than Britain and still lacked this great power. Some might hypothesize that the cause was government compulsory education, because everyone thinks that when there are more educated people, cultures thrive, but this, too, is not sufficient, as doubtless education helps, but it does not provide the skills necessary for economic benefit, not to mention the fact that ancient Greece had some of the smartest individuals in both science and philosophy, but they didn’t see this flourishing effect. The only conclusive reason that western prosperity began in Britain, was because of a respect for the middle class, indeed it can be nothing else. These people were simple hard working developers, who, when allowed to work in peace, could bring an economic benefit such as the world had never seen. If you think about it, it makes sense, the working class are looking to find a job with someone instructing them how to labor; the upper class was made rich either by clever finances, or the more common wealthy heritage, however, the rich were too prideful to get their hands dirty with inventing, and the working class, on the other hand, did turn out a few developers, but for the most part it was too risky, they stayed focussed on simply getting food on the table. Between the content wealthy and the ever toiling working class, western culture would not have gotten anywhere if, however, they did not around the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries begin to revere those who developed new systems, commodities, inventions, strategies, and opportunities for economic growth. It was these very people who caused the Industrial Revolution, and set in motion the flourishing West.
In conclusion, the many cultures of the world have engaged in practices that benefit their nations, however, none of these practices on their own could give the kind of roaring growth that occurred in the West. It certainly helps to have natural resources, for instance, but countries like Africa have untold resources and yet they still fight poverty. Explanations like these always fall short, but my conclusion is that without respect for the middle class, untold prosperity is just a wish.
Bibliography: Information gathered from the Ron Paul Curriculum Western Civilization 2 course and Wikipedia.
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