eBook The Acquisitive Society (Harvest Book) epub

Tawney here as a socialist educator and writer has a work of major importance here. Writing in 1920 of England he is saying in essence that during the Great War (World War I) industry and much else in England was subordinated to the public service for the war effort and that for the post-war period of Reconstruction it was even more important for industry in England to be subordinated to the service of the public good and not for private profit. Tawney points out that the model to avoid is the Marxist one of class struggle leading to class war and violence. A very important book.

Good book, garbage edition. Somebody downloaded a free, scanned version of this book online, bound the mess up into a book and is selling it. And for some bizarre reason, every other page is really, really dark and almost illegible. Don't buy the Leopold Classic Edition whatever you do. Editions like this are the scourge of Amazon.

The subject matter is important but difficult to sift out due to the run on sentences and strange sentence structure.

This is a review of this particular printing of Tawney's Acquisitive Society. I am reading this book for a class and for some reason, this copy of Tawney is intermingled with text from some novel by Mary Roberts Rhinehart. The second half of this Tawney edition has some very interesting dialogue between a Willy Cameron and Mr. Hendricks. I particularly enjoyed the passage "He was a very earthly lover, with the hungry arms of youth. He yearned unspeakably for her. He would have died for her, but he could delds vary so widely that reliance on local knowledge and experience are essential, and it is to local knowledge and experience that it is proposed to intrust the administration of the industry." I kid you not. Please note that following the word "delds" the rest of the sentence actually does come from Tawney. It's not a bad story or anything, but not really helpful in my class and I know that it isn't just my copy either because my friend got the same book and it has this it it as well.

Splendid

The central argument of The Acquisitive Society (1921) is that Britain is infested with a false philosophy that prizes material accumulation over civilised values. This is not merely a modern occurrence, but one that can be traced back to the 17th century, with the gradual displacement of a body of ethics from the economic realm that affirmed our essential humanity by limiting exploitation and preserving communal ties.

Prior to the ascent of capitalism, economical activity was merely one compartment of existence, with its operation regulated, albeit imperfectly, by an overriding moral consensus; the retreat of the Church and the Christian Casuistry, allowed the market to be magnified to generate a monomaniacal society in which all aspects of life are subjugated by economic concerns. This materialism results in an atomised society in which social duties are subsumed by individual rights; where human beings are reduced from the ends of ethical consideration to mere tools of accumulation; where private property is sanctified to ensure that it is preserved to benefit a narrow section of the population, and society is scarred by class resentment and division.

Tawney's solution is for the creation of a Functional Society, which is socialistic in all but name. This new society will be animated by the principle of social purpose, with all actions directed to the fulfilment of obligations to the community, rather than self aggrandisement. Although Tawney is primarily concerned to identify the broad philosophical contours of this society, he does offer practical prescriptions. First, the commanding heights of the economy should be brought into public ownership, with transport, arms production and energy deemed too important to be left to the market. Tawney, as distinct from other notable socialists, cautions against elevating nationalisation to an end in itself; rather it is a means to deliver beneficial social outcomes to be judged according to this criterion. Second, private ownership of productive property is acceptable providing that its meets social objectives and its owners are motivated by the principle of social service. Third, that within public and private organisations, powers are devolved to the workers, primarily through trade unions, to play an active role in running organisations, with parliamentary oversight ensuring that producer power does not encroach on the interests of the consumer.

The Acquisitive Society is remarkably prescient in its principles, whilst being anachronistic in its prescriptions. In the current climate of economic turbulence, free market fundamentalism is under a sustained assault for the very reasons outlined in Tawney's work. There is an emerging consensus that the market has over reached itself, not merely because of its failure to generate sustainable growth, but because it has encouraged forms of human behaviour, like greed and selfishness, that are morally and socially unacceptable. Within this discourse of social and economic decay, Tawney's appeal for a more humane society focussed on collective social concerns does resonant. In terms of his prescriptions, the period since the publication of The Acquisitive Society provides little evidence that public ownership or workers co-operatives have been particularly successful in delivering social objectives, let alone sustaining themselves as efficient economic organisations. Tawney's faith in these socialistic ideas reflects the tenor of the times in which he wrote, when capitalism was perceived to be imperilled and doctrines like guild socialism were flourishing. Although governments are once more employing nationalisation, it is being adopted as an emergency measure, rather than as a long term tool of socialist renewal.

At times of capitalist crisis, it is Marx, with his doctrine of the inevitability of collapse, that marauds round the pages of our newspapers as the Prophet, only to return to the dustbin of history as capitalism re-emerges renewed and reformed. When we emerge from the tumult, rather than substituting one fundamentalism for another, it is to figures like Tawney that we should look to for inspiration in reconstituting our society. In The Acquisitive Society, and the superior Equality, Tawney, does not provide a systematic theory that is devoid of errors and misconceptions, but he does outline a broad philosophical disposition that is striking in its humanity, and salutary in its promotion of social purpose.

R.H. Tawney's book is an overlooked classic! In 1962 Mortimer Adler added it to the Encyclopedia Britannica Great Books collection, where I read it (Great Ideas Today 1962). Honestly I had never heard of Tawney, but was intrigued by the title "The Acquisitive Society"...It is most similar to Thorstein Veblen's "Leisure Class" and will appeal to readers of Eric Hoffer and John Stuart Mill. It is basically a non-Marxist critique of contemporary capitalism (c. 1920 but relevant today). As he analyzes the unlimited property rights and accumulation of wealth in a tiny minority, he predicts and sheds light on todays wealth gap, and especially hedge funds, absentee landlords and "venture" capital. As I read the book, I had that feeling that he was clearly stating what I had only vaguely suspected or hazily understood-- that wealth without responsibility is unprofessional, cruel, immoral and counter-productive for the society that encourages it. This book explains why unproductive capitalism of the Mitt Romney / Bain variety is a drag on our society and totally indefensible......