Morality and the Market in Victorian Britain

In this lively and interesting study, G. R. Searle tackles the conundrum at the heart of Victorian life: how could capitalist values be harmonized with Christian beliefs and with concepts of public morality and social duty? Middle-class Victorians who broadly welcomed industrial growth and embraced the doctrines of 'political economy' were sensitive to the charge that theirs was a selfish and materialistic creed. Consequently, if public morality was to be reconciled with the market, wage-labour had to be distinguished from slavery, investment from speculation, and entrepreneurial acumen from dishonesty and fraud. These ideas about citizenship and public virtue offered a greater challenge to rampant capitalism than any pressing need to alleviate poverty. Through its exploration of 'Victorian values', this book provides lessons for all those engaged in the present-day debate about the moral and social consequences of unleashing free market forces.

Review:

Sunday Times Books 14/06/98 by Jad Adams G. R. Searle offers here a series of discrete essays on the various manifestations of this problem ... Morality and the Market in Victorian Britain is a scrupulously nuanced book, in which a refined intelligence works on an impressive body of information to chart the issues at stake clearly. It is valuable to have the confrontation of the two principles brought out over such a wide canvas, and the book will be a useful starting point for further inquiry. * Jonathan Parry, TLS *