The Acquisitive Society · Chapter
The Nemesis of Industrialism explained
This chapter argues that the dominant principle of industrialism—the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself—has led to a society where rewards are divorced from service, creating a class of idle rentiers and degrading the majority of laborer
What happens
This chapter argues that the dominant principle of industrialism—the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself—has led to a society where rewards are divorced from service, creating a class of idle rentiers and degrading the majority of laborers. It contends that this system produces irrational inequality, misdirects production toward luxuries while basic needs go unmet, and fosters perpetual industrial conflict because no principle other than force or self-interest governs the distribution of income. The only remedy, the author insists, is to restore the idea of function as the basis for remuneration and social esteem.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of the Acquisitive Society
The chapter directly critiques the acquisitive society, arguing that it reverences wealth possession over function, divorces gain from service, and creates a class of pensioners who contribute nothing.
Inequality and Waste
Highlights how inequality leads to misdirection of production, with resources diverted to luxuries for the rich while basic needs like housing for the poor remain unmet, calling such luxury production 'waste'.
Function vs. Rights
Contrasts the principle of function (remuneration based on service) with the prevailing doctrine of unlimited rights to exploit economic opportunities, arguing that the latter causes perpetual conflict and dissatisfaction.
Property and Privilege
Discusses how property and inherited wealth create unequal opportunities, allowing some to draw dividends without performing any function, and notes that privilege returns in a new guise after the gospel of 1789.
Characters to notice
- Providence
Referenced indirectly as the source of 'Its' design in the context of the natural flow of consequences from industrialism's dominant principle.
Key passages
“Hence it divorces gain from service, and justifies rewards for which no function is performed, or which are out of all proportion to it.”
The system separates profit from any actual service, making it acceptable to receive rewards without having performed a function, or rewards vastly exceeding the function performed.
Summarizes the core critique of the acquisitive society's principle.
“The rentier and his ways, how familiar they were in England before the war! A public school and then club life in Oxford and Cambridge, and then another club in town; London in June, when London is pleasant, the moors in August, and pheasants in October, Cannes in December and hunting in February and March; and a whole world of rising bourgeoisie eager to imitate them, sedulous to make their expensive watches keep time with this preposterous calendar!”
The idle rich in pre-war England followed a predictable cycle of elite education, club life, and seasonal leisure activities, which the aspiring middle class desperately tried to emulate.
Illustrates the lifestyle of the rentier class that the author criticizes.
“For if the community pays anything at all to those who do not work, it can afford to pay more to those who do.”
If society supports non-workers, it can certainly afford to pay workers more.
Highlights the author's argument against the legitimacy of unearned incomes.