John Ruskin's Political Economy (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics, 32)

This volume offers an exciting new reading of John Ruskin's economic and social criticism, based on recent research into rhetoric in economics. Willie Henderson uses notions derived from literary criticism, the rhetorical turn in economics and more conventional approaches to historical economic texts to reevaluate Ruskin's economic and social criticism. By identifying Ruskin's rhetoric, and by reading his work through that of Plato, Xenophon, and John Stuart Mill, Willie Henderson reveals how Ruskin manipulated a knowledge base. Moreover in analysis of the writings of William Smart, John Bates Clark and Alfred Marshall, the author shows that John Ruskins influence on the cultural significance of economics and on notions of economic well-being has been considerable. Far from being mad, Ruskin attempted a methodological / scientific critique of political economy. He fixed on ideas of natural laws, economic man and the prevailing notion of value to point out gaps and inconsistencies in th system of classical economics. Though he wrote vigorously against the idea of formal systems of thought, some of his work has implications for the future development of economic analysis. By linking the consumer directly with the product being valued, he hit upon ideas of value which have elements in common with Jevon's notion of marginal utility. He also took values into the heart of John Stuart Mills' scientific domain of production. Harmony, for Ruskin, can only be achieved through the use of human reason guided by a sense of justice. Whilst he left no formal system of economic analysis, he had a huge impact on the ways in which economists, and wider society, began to move towards alternative policy and welfare contexts. Some of his ideas on individual economic responsibility, this book shows, speak to us directly today Preliminaries......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Preface......Page 14 1 Reason, rhetoric and John Ruskin......Page 18 2 Why read Ruskin on political economy?......Page 38 3 Ruskin on economic agency......Page 59 4 Xenophon, Ruskin and economic management......Page 81 5 Plato and Ruskin: searching for economic justice......Page 103 6 John Ruskin reading John Stuart Mill......Page 124 7 Systematic and anti-systematic thinking......Page 142 8 William Smart (1853–1915): economist and Ruskinian?......Page 161 9 Ruskinian influences on other theorists......Page 177 Notes......Page 193 Bibliography......Page 205 Index......Page 214 Kenneth Clark, who re-established Ruskin's reputation in the 1960s, argues that, in the whole second half of the nineteenth century 'he was accepted by all thoughtful people as one of the impregnable figures in English literature' (Clark 1964: xi).