The Social and Economic Works of John Ruskin (Open Series: Modern Economists) - Softcover

Cain, Peter J; Ruskin, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415113504 ISBN 13: 9780415113502

Publisher: Routledge, 1994

Synopsis

First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

About this title

Synopsis:

This book is 6-volume boxed set of the social and economic works of John Ruskin. Smart's short pamphlet is a pioneering analysis of Ruskin's main ideas by a sympathizer who was also a trained economist of distinction. Hobson's book is a much more rigorous and extended analysis which tries hard to claim Ruskin for liberalism and is still one of the finest critiques of his writings available. "The Crown of Wild Olive" [1873] is composed mainly of lectures given by Ruskin in the 1860s, and offers one of the most readable and accessible introductions to his social criticism. The titles of the lectures - work, traffic, war and the future of England - cover major themes which pre-occupied Ruskin in the later part of his active life as a writer. "Time and Tide" [1872] is composed from a series of letters written by Ruskin to a working class correspondent. It illustrates Ruskin's talents as a correspondent and contains some of his most striking denunciations of the squalor and uglines generated by industrial capitalism, as well as some of his best thoughts on the problem of machinery.

"Munera Pulveris - Six Essays on the Elements of Political Economy" [1872] is Ruskin's most elaborate attempt to examine the conceptual apparatus of classical political economy as handed down by Ricardo and John Stuart Mill, and to offer counter-definitions of major concepts such as value and wealth. Like "Unto This Last", "Munera Pulveris" was the cause of bitter controversy on first publication. "A Joy for Ever" [1880] was first produced in 1857 as "The Political Economy of Art". When reprinted under its new title in 1880, Ruskin claimed that "the exposition of these truths, to which I have given the chief energy of my life, will be found in the following pages first undertaken systematically and in logical sequence". "Unto This Last" [1877] is Ruskin's most famous attack on economic orthodoxy. In it, he confronted his Victorian readers with the accusation that they had adopted a political economy which contradicted their acknowledged code of ethics and religious belief. "Unto This Last" provoked much controversy on publication and still has relevance to modern debates about the ethics of market capitalism.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0415113504
• ISBN 13: 9780415113502
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1540