A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 48 “And Betterment, Though Long Disdained, Developed Its Own Vested Interests” Change is hard to do in a system in part because it hurts one or more groups who are part of the existing status quo. So how can something as big as a…
Tag: Economic Growth
Bourgeois Equality
Yet the Roots of Bourgeois Respect were Christian
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 47 “Yet Some Christians Anticipated a Respected Bourgeoisie” Dr. McCloskey notes that in the later medieval era you can already see Christianity making room for trading and profits that will allow successful merchants to still be devout Christians. She notes Thomas Aquinas promoting such thinking in…
Bourgeois Equality
Our Language Shows Historic, and Current, Disdain for the Bourgeois
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 46 “The Hostility was Ancient” Dr. McCloskey continues her exploration of the negative attitude that has existed over time towards trading and profits started last chapter. Trading and profit making and entrepreneurship and betterment have been more or less despised by the aristocracy in pastoral…
Bourgeois Equality
Attitudes towards Bourgeois Betterment Historically Hostile
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 45 “Talk had been Hostile to Betterment” Dr. McCloskey opens this chapter with a story of a Mayan man from Guatemala, Oscar Chiquito, who had recently graduated from university despite long odds. And the long odds were due largely to his father’s hostility to…
Bourgeois Equality
Ideas Matter: Respect for the Bourgeois Led to the Great Enrichment
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 44 “The Rhetorical Change was Necessary, and May be Sufficient Dr. McCloskey is wrapping up Part VI of her book with this chapter focusing on the importance of the shift in rhetoric and playing with the concepts of necessary and sufficient. If the shift in…
Bourgeois Equality
Good Ideas Put the Bourgeois in Charge
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 43 “Ideas Made for a Bourgeois Revaluation” Dr. McCloskey is continuing her exploration for the factors that caused the Great Enrichment to occur when and where it did, nineteenth century England. She has been focusing on many economic and cultural factors so far, but…
Bourgeois Equality
Why We Need a Supportive Government not a Predatory One
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 42 “Political Ideas Mattered for Equal Liberty and Dignity” Dr. McCloskey is examining the role political thinking played in making the trade tested betterment system work. She notes that many societies in the past, and now, have some elements needed for such a system…
Bourgeois Equality
Then the Printing Press Buoyed the Flow of Ideas, and thus the Bourgeois Revaluation
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 41 “Printing and Reading and Fragmentation Sustained the Dignity of Commoners” Dr. McCloskey is exploring the various factors that contributed to a culture supportive of the Great Enrichment, and now she turns her attention to the increase in the sharing of ideas that the…
Bourgeois Equality
And the Bourgeois Revaluation also needed a Happiness Revival
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 40 “The Theology of Happiness Changed Circa 1700” While last chapter, Dr. McCloskey explored the impact of the Radical Reformation movement on the church leading to a belief in self governance, in this chapter she explores the impact of changes in the theology of happiness….
Bourgeois Equality
Why It Had to Be the British Bourgeois
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 31 “And the Change was Specifically British” This chapter wraps up the 4th part of Dr. McCloskey’s book by asserting the favorable attitude shift towards bourgeois dignity was particularly British in flavor. To put this chapter in context, she is working backwards in time…