Archive

WHAT SOCIAL CLASSES OWE TO EACH OTHER (1884)BY WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNERRead by Morgan A. Brown (The Culture & Anarchy Podcast)In this collection of essays and reflections, William Graham Sumner questions the duties that social activists assume each social class owes to the other. He first inquires into the origins of these "social classes" (the rich, the poor, the capitalist, the working man) that form the class types under question, which do not have their home in American life and whose criticisms have largely been adopted from European modes of thought (as a remnant of critiques of aristocracy). The idea that groups are obliged to provide for the wants of other groups THROUGH THE STATE happens to be one of the most common and destructive misconceptions imaginable. Sumner did not deny that moral duty was a real phenomenon and binding upon any consistent moral sentiment or ethic. He instead simply pointed out the fact that the State was not the agent of moral duty, and was entirely antithetical to the aims and objectives of those who intended to dispense charity through a government program. The idea that A and B should get together to aid D is the principle of charity. The idea that A and B should get together to conspire how C should be forced to aid D was the principle of looting. And in the midst of the confused ethical doctrines of the social meddlers (regulators, progressives, democratists, and socialists), nobody ever paused to consider what C, The Forgotten Man, was already doing to aid A, B, and D through his personal contributions to the economy, even as A & B conspired to pilfer his savings to splurge on dead-end, anti-economic consumption.Sumner, a remarkable social scientist, was one of the champions of early conservative and libertarian thought, an anti-imperialist to the core; and his essays still serve as a reminder that there are no new problems under the sun, and that the social meddlers (who never learned the virtue of minding their own business) have NEVER once provided a new solution to age-old problems.Featuring the Music of Franz Liszt, from Hungarian Rhapsody Nos 2&4. No. 2 arr. for orchestra by the US NAVY BAND, courtesy of Musopen.org (https://musopen.org/music/44101-hungarian-rhapsody-no-2-s-2442/). No. 4 played by Vadim Chaimovich (https://musopen.org/music/14914-hungarian-rhapsody-no-4-s-2444/).These recordings are protected by a Creative Commons License 3.0 and are in the Public Domain.--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/culture-anarchy/support