Growing productivity and wealth were good things, most of Britain’s literati recognized, but they also produced—in Smith’s words—“lovers of toys,” a new class in Britain who “ruin themselves by laying out money on trinkets of frivolous utility.” Globalization and rising, if uneven, standards of living were creating new possibilities for individual fulfillment, which of course also meant paving the way for individualism. As Britain’s leading public intellectuals made the case for a growing commercial society, they also wrestled with what might undermine such a society. Read Full Article »
Free Trade and Decadence, Old and New
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in the heady days of 18th century Scotland when Adam Smith argued for free markets, the best minds were worried about luxury. Britain was an epicenter of globalization, and as exotic goods from Asia and elsewhere flowed in, the superfluities of life changed expectations for happiness. Water out of a wooden cup no longer satisfied when imported coffee in porcelain was available at a newfound café around the corner. British artisans and manufacturers competed to provide greater refinements, and the race for life’s unnecessary trappings was on. This made luxury a thorny issue.
Growing productivity and wealth were good things, most of Britain’s literati recognized, but they also produced—in Smith’s words—“lovers of toys,” a new class in Britain who “ruin themselves by laying out money on trinkets of frivolous utility.” Globalization and rising, if uneven, standards of living were creating new possibilities for individual fulfillment, which of course also meant paving the way for individualism. As Britain’s leading public intellectuals made the case for a growing commercial society, they also wrestled with what might undermine such a society. Read Full Article »
Growing productivity and wealth were good things, most of Britain’s literati recognized, but they also produced—in Smith’s words—“lovers of toys,” a new class in Britain who “ruin themselves by laying out money on trinkets of frivolous utility.” Globalization and rising, if uneven, standards of living were creating new possibilities for individual fulfillment, which of course also meant paving the way for individualism. As Britain’s leading public intellectuals made the case for a growing commercial society, they also wrestled with what might undermine such a society. Read Full Article »
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