The Rich Are Good-Natured
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Description: Sumner's essay suggesting that the misunderstood ambitions and intentions of the wealthy would benefit everyone.
"The Rich Are Good-Natured": William Graham Sumner Defends the Wealthy “The Rich Are Good-Natured”: William Graham Sumner Defends the Wealthy In the late 19th century, William Graham Sumner, an Episcopal minister turned academic sociologist, brought a distinctly conservative perspective to the new “science” of sociology. Some of his ideas about the economic survival of the fittest and opposition to government intervention in the economy were applications of Darwin’s scientific ideas of evolution to the social sphere. He also drew upon the doctrines of laissez-faire British economists like Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo to argue that government intervention would disturb the “natural” and self-regulating market. Sumner’s writings justified government inaction in the face of vast social dislocations caused by rapid industrialization and the periodic economic depressions that accompanied it. Not surprisingly, his work had a broad influence beyond the academy. In this excerpt from his 1883 essay, “What the Social Classes Owe To Each Other,” Sumner portrayed the wealthy elite as a put-upon class whose misunderstood ambitions and intentions would benefit everyone.
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| Page title: | "The Rich Are Good-Natured": William Graham Sumner Defends the Wealthy |
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| NS | Name Servers: EVE.GMU.EDU 129.174.253.66 RUTH.GMU.EDU 129.174.67.98 |
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| Date | activated: 14-Oct-1987 last updated: 27-Feb-2012 expires: 31-Jul-2014 |