The political economy of John Ruskin

Abstract

John Ruskin was both the leading English art critic of his era and a trenchant critic of the dehumanising effects of industrial capitalism. His social criticism, however, was not simply a moral critique of capitalism. Ruskin outlined a comprehensive alternative system of political economy to the dominant classical paradigm. As one of the most well known writers of the Victorian era much has been written on all aspects of Ruskin's thought. Conventional accounts of Ruskin's social criticism generally emphasise the importance of Ruskin's moral and aesthetic theories. As an economist Ruskin is considered unimportant. The existing literature on Ruskin's political and economic ideas, however, has two large gaps in it. Firstly, no author has made a thorough attempt to understand Ruskin's political and economic ideas as an alternative system of political economy. Conventional accounts tend to limit themselves to making comparisons between some of Ruskin's ideas and the various dominant schools of political economy. Secondly, no systematic attempt has been made to examine the contemporary response to Ruskin's political and economic ideas. This thesis focuses on these two gaps. Drawing on Ruskin's works on political economy I outline the key features of Ruskinian political economy. The primary focus of the thesis, however, will be on the contemporary response to Ruskin. This involves looking at a wide range on nineteenth century literature. The two most important sources are nineteenth century periodicals, and the primary works of leading Victorian political and economic thinkers. Use has also been made of pamphlets and private letters where these have been available. The thesis demonstrates three things. Firstly, it will show why Ruskin's political economy was rejected by the mid Victorian public. This was because Ruskin's political and economic ideas clashed with the doctrines of the evangelical religious ethos dominant at the time. Secondly, I claim that Ruskin was recognised as an important political economist during the late Victorian era. His political economy had an significant effect on the "new" or "humanist" school of economics. Finally, the thesis will show that Ruskin was an important source of ideas for certain late Victorian socialists. While accepting the conventional view the Ruskin's impact on the mainstream of British socialism was mainly of a moral nature, Ruskin's substantive impact on socialist political economy will be demonstrated.