Such an important lesson that very few seem to recognise. Factories offered rising incomes to adult and children alike. Whereas child labour was endemic for centuries/millennia previously. Thank you Magatte for driving home this vital historical lesson.
People ignore that people CHOSE to work in factories. Capitalism pretty much singlehandedly created the middle class. There was a small middle class before capitalism. Mostly you were either an aristocrat, or you were a peasant. Factory work was desirable to the poor relative to subsisting on a farm.
This is a dispassionate analysis of the issue of child labour and has shown after all, that the West has been in our situation before and ours is not inherent.
Yes. Western culture has improved the human condition in numerous ways. Economics, as you point out. Western culture also eradicated slavery. Slavery had been endemic in all cultures throughout the world, so much so that everyone is likely a descendant of a slave. The West ended that horrible practice.
The west is very far from perfect but the west has learned and implemented some great ideas, and stopped other bad ideas.
Strong piece. The point about child labour being far more common on farms than in factories is one most people get wrong.
But the DRC example got me thinking. The failures you describe there (no property rights, no rule of law, no accountability) are exactly the kind of problems markets on their own can't solve. So what builds that foundation? Is there something between the overreach you're critiquing and just letting markets do their thing?
Absolutely, Hans Rosling touched on this in his presentation “The World is Better Than You Think”. Having lived in multiple communities from rural Africa to urban Europe, I often encounter people who’ve only lived in the latter who assume that their reductive take that the world is only getting worse due to capitalism is the correct one. Thank you for bringing nuance and data to the conversation!
I have luckily stumbled across your Substack, Ms. Wade, and greatly appreciate your perspective. It is hard to understand how the obvious benefits of free markets are so often demonized. Thank you for the clarity!
The Dickensian children depicted in literature were not from free families, but from pauper families—generational debt slaves owned by the government as completely as any African. Their labor was sold to factory owners in exchange for kickbacks. Free families did not allow their children to work in hellish conditions, and the government did not try to force them—not only would it have caused riots and revolts, but it was economically unnecessary, there were plenty of paupers to exploit. Our very saying “beggars can’t be choosers” originally meant “homeless people have no civil rights.”
Such an important lesson that very few seem to recognise. Factories offered rising incomes to adult and children alike. Whereas child labour was endemic for centuries/millennia previously. Thank you Magatte for driving home this vital historical lesson.
People ignore that people CHOSE to work in factories. Capitalism pretty much singlehandedly created the middle class. There was a small middle class before capitalism. Mostly you were either an aristocrat, or you were a peasant. Factory work was desirable to the poor relative to subsisting on a farm.
This is wonderfully cogent and clear. Thank you, Magatte.
This is a dispassionate analysis of the issue of child labour and has shown after all, that the West has been in our situation before and ours is not inherent.
Excellent essay
Yes. Western culture has improved the human condition in numerous ways. Economics, as you point out. Western culture also eradicated slavery. Slavery had been endemic in all cultures throughout the world, so much so that everyone is likely a descendant of a slave. The West ended that horrible practice.
The west is very far from perfect but the west has learned and implemented some great ideas, and stopped other bad ideas.
Strong piece. The point about child labour being far more common on farms than in factories is one most people get wrong.
But the DRC example got me thinking. The failures you describe there (no property rights, no rule of law, no accountability) are exactly the kind of problems markets on their own can't solve. So what builds that foundation? Is there something between the overreach you're critiquing and just letting markets do their thing?
" A peasant child who did not work was a peasant child whose family might starve."
No it was a peasant child who was about to start working right after a serious beating.
Child labor is everywhere honestly. Capitalism just exacerbated it.
https://sklebi.substack.com/p/modern-day-slavery-the-children-on?r=4csx9c
Absolutely, Hans Rosling touched on this in his presentation “The World is Better Than You Think”. Having lived in multiple communities from rural Africa to urban Europe, I often encounter people who’ve only lived in the latter who assume that their reductive take that the world is only getting worse due to capitalism is the correct one. Thank you for bringing nuance and data to the conversation!
Thanks for posting this needed and insightful article.
I have luckily stumbled across your Substack, Ms. Wade, and greatly appreciate your perspective. It is hard to understand how the obvious benefits of free markets are so often demonized. Thank you for the clarity!
Really appreciated this piece; too many people treat ‘capitalism’ as an all‑purpose boogeyman instead of looking at how poverty actually works.
The Dickensian children depicted in literature were not from free families, but from pauper families—generational debt slaves owned by the government as completely as any African. Their labor was sold to factory owners in exchange for kickbacks. Free families did not allow their children to work in hellish conditions, and the government did not try to force them—not only would it have caused riots and revolts, but it was economically unnecessary, there were plenty of paupers to exploit. Our very saying “beggars can’t be choosers” originally meant “homeless people have no civil rights.”