Arnold Toynbee

Arnold Toynbee.

Arnold Toynbee (born August 23, 1852 in London , † March 9, 1883 in Wimbledon ) was a British economist and economic historian . Toynbee was also known for his social commitment to the working class .

Life

The medical doctor and ear, nose and throat doctor Joseph Toynbee was the father of Arnold Toynbee. His uncle Harry Valpy Toynbee (1861-1941), however, was the father of the history philosopher Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975), with whom he is often confused because of the similarity of names.

Arnold Toynbee attended private schools in Blackheath and Woolwich and studied economics at Oxford University from 1873 , first at Pembroke College , and from 1875 at Balliol College .

Toynbee finished his studies in economics at Balliol College in Oxford in 1878 and worked there as a teacher from then on. His lectures on the history of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries proved extremely influential. Toynbee coined the term industrial revolution significantly in the English-speaking world . Toynbee died in 1883 at the age of 30 after his health deteriorated rapidly as a result of overwork.

"Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England"

A collection of Toynbee lectures was published posthumously in 1884 and quickly became a classic in British economic history. In it he reconstructed the theories of Adam Smith , Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo in their historical context and pleaded for a more historically oriented interpretation of economic developments, since the then current political economy was too abstract. For example, it can only be understood historically why "2512 people own half the land in the UK" . In addition, the historical perspective makes the relativity of supposedly universal economic laws clear. Free trade z. B. is not fundamentally advantageous for economic development, but only under certain conditions that should not be made absolute. Only a few economic laws have universal validity, such as the law of the falling rate of profit . Therefore, there are no generally applicable scientific rules about how far the state may intervene in the market economy; Depending on the situation, different levels of regulation could be useful.

Toynbee, however, warns against abandoning deductive economics one-sidedly in favor of economic history; Rather, abstract theory and historical empiricism should influence each other: Knowledge of economic theory enables a better understanding of historical processes. Toynbee warned against reading controversies of the present into the past like “party historians” . Rather, one must "pursue the facts for their own sake, but with a keen sense for the problems of one's own time" .

Toynbee criticized the theoretical view that competition was fundamentally beneficial for economic and social development, and in particular the inflation of competition that emerged at the time under social Darwinism . Toynbee suggests making a clear distinction between a " struggle for existence " and a "struggle for a certain kind of existence" . The entire human culture has always been designed to intervene in the “brutal struggle for existence. We want to soften the violence of the struggle and prevent the weak from being trampled ” . Economic competition certainly has advantages - without it there is no progress. However, these advantages would be bought at the price of "an enormous waste of human life and human labor , which regulation could avoid" .

He suggests differentiating between competition in production on the one hand and in the distribution of goods on the other: “The struggle of people to outdo each other in production is useful; it is not their struggle for the division of the common goods produced. The stronger side will dictate its terms; and in the early days of competition, the capitalists actually used all their power to suppress the workers and push wages to the starvation line. This kind of competition needs to be contained; there is no historical example of it having endured long without being restricted either by association [of workers] or by legislation. In England both antidotes are in use, the former through the trade unions, the latter through labor law ” . Market competition is in itself neither good nor bad, but like a stream whose natural direction and flow velocity have to be studied in order to channel it through embankments in a useful direction. In the early phase of industrialization, however, it was seen as a “gospel” that one had to believe in, and from which to deviate was “almost considered immoral” .

social commitment

Toynbee was not only concerned with the social issue academically , but was actively involved in improving the living conditions of the proletariat . Among other things, he gave lectures to workers in large British industrial cities and supported the establishment of trade unions and cooperatives . One focus of his activity was the poor district of Whitechapel in east London, where he is e.g. B. advocated the establishment of public libraries for workers.

Shortly after his death (1884), a project in east London that still exists today was named after Toynbee - Toynbee Hall , which became an important model for the settlement movement and for community work today . An important element of the project was that students and university professors not only volunteered to teach workers, but also lived and worked with them. Members of Balliol College , Toynbee's former place of work , were mainly involved in the Toynbee Hall project .

Fonts

1884: Lectures On The Industrial Revolution In England . Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing (Paperback 2004 ). ISBN 141912952X

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Toynbee, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British social economist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 23, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH	London
DATE OF DEATH	March 9, 1883
Place of death	Wimbledon