Economic Scientist, Economic and Social Reformer

Irving Fisher ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Robert W. Dimand
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann

As soon as he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, Winston Churchill sought to buttress his credentials as a social reformer by improving conditions for sailors in the Navy and widening the social composition of the officer corps. This chapter examines his efforts towards both of these ends. It shows how he fought against the Treasury and his Cabinet colleagues to offer sailors their first meaningful pay rise in decades. It similarly catalogues the many schemes he introduced to entice people from a wider range of backgrounds, including sailors from the lower deck, to become naval officers. As with enhanced naval pay, this required him to persevere against entrenched interests, but as this chapter will show, his achievements in this area were considerable.


Author(s):  
Stewart J. Brown

W. T. Stead (1849–1912), newspaper editor, author, social reformer, advocate for women’s rights, peace campaigner, spiritualist, was one of the best-known public figures in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. This a religious biography of Stead, giving particular attention to Stead’s conception of journalism, in an age of growing mass literacy, as a means to communicate religious truth and morality, and his view of the editor’s desk as a modern pulpit from which the editor could preach to a congregation of tens of thousands. The book explores how his Nonconformist Conscience and sense of divine calling infused his newspaper crusades, most famously his ‘Maiden Tribute’ campaign against child prostitution, and it considers his efforts, through forms of participatory journalism, to create a ‘union of all who love in the service of all who suffer’ and a ‘Civic Church’. The book considers his growing interest in spiritualism and the occult as he searched for the evidence of an afterlife that might draw people of an increasingly secular age back to faith. It discusses his imperialism and his belief in the English-speaking peoples of the British Empire and American Republic as God’s new chosen people for the spread of civilization, and it considers how his growing understanding of other faiths and cultures, but more especially his moral revulsion over the South African War of 1899–1902, brought him to question those beliefs. Finally, it assesses the influence of religious faith on his campaigns for world peace and the arbitration of international disputes.


The volume reflects L.M. Singhvi’s prodigious scholarship. His signature writing style is brilliant, articulate, fluent, and honest. He believed in maintaining clarity in his writings to make it simple and intelligible to readers, despite the complexity of the issues that he addressed in his works. Dr L.M. Singhvi had a multifaceted personality—author, jurist, statesman, philosopher, and a social reformer. A product of many reputed universities like the University of Allahabad, University of Rajasthan, Harvard University, and Cornell University, he was most celebrated Indian public figure of the contemporary times. A disciple of eminent jurist Dr K.M. Munshi, he entered into Parliament at a young age of 30 years as an independent member in Lok Sabha from the Jodhpur constituency and made a great contribution in the parliamentary proceedings and discussions. The contents of the present volume are divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with the biographical account of Dr L.M. Singhvi which covers many phases of his life journey and contributions. Part 2 contains a number of unpublished papers of Dr Singhvi which are thematically organized in three different sections. Sections of this part deal with Dr Singhvi’s academic writings on issues pertaining to public governance and administration.


Author(s):  
Thomas Hughes

abstract A classic of Victorian literature, and one of the earliest books written specifically for boys, Tom Brown’s Schooldays has long had an influence well beyond the middle-class, public school world that it describes. An active social reformer, Hughes wrote with a freshness, a lack of cant, and a kind, relaxed tolerance which keeps this novel refreshingly distinct from other schoolboy adventures. This edition is the only one available, and comes with the outstanding 1869 illustrations by Arthur Hughes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 669-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. NAIM

AbstractThe earliest writings of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), the famous Muslim social reformer and educationist, were in the field of History, including two books on the monuments and history of Delhi that bear the same title, Asar-al-Sanadid. This paper compares the first book, published in 1847, with the second, published in 1854, to discover the author's ambitions for each. How do the two books differ from some of the earlier books of relatively similar nature in Persian and Urdu? How radically different are the two books from each other, and why? How and why were they written, and what particular audiences could the author have had in mind in each instance? How were the two books actually received by the public? And, finally, what changes do the two books reflect in the author's thinking? These are the chief questions that this paper seeks to explore.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-150
Author(s):  
Paul M Butler

Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, a Bostonian physician from the mid-19th century, lived a passionate life full of commitment and devotion to various noble causes – he was a champion of public health, an advocate for inclusion of women in medicine and a staunch abolitionist, all unpopular social perspectives at that time in medical and political history. Seemingly difficult personality traits including his stubbornness and moralistic outlook were likely ‘adaptive’ as he confronted the political reality of major institutional change. His interest in statistical trends and environmental influences and his inductive reasoning led to a deeper understanding of consumption (tuberculosis), the widespread diagnostic use of the stethoscope and thoracocentesis.


BMJ ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 285 (6354) ◽  
pp. 1552-1553
Author(s):  
G. Godber
Keyword(s):  

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Styhre

Purpose The economic system of competitive capitalism strives toward liquid markets wherein the cost for transacting is minimized. Liquidity is mostly addressed in association with abstract markets (e.g. the securities market), but also consumer markets are determined by liquidity concerns. The purpose of this paper is to examine the shopping mall concept, developed by the architect and social reformer Victor Gruen during the early 1950s, as a form of production of capitalist space, intended to reduce transaction costs. As an auxiliary benefit, Gruen envisioned the shopping mall as a cultural and civic center in the midst of the satellite town of suburbia, the new site of urban expansion during the post-war boom decades. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews secondary literature on the historical development of the shopping mall as a consumer space. In addition, relevant economic and social science literature is referenced. Findings The architecture, design, ornamentation and day-to-day management of the shopping mall were premised on a consumerist way of life, ultimately serving as an all-too-visual index of the triumph of competitive capitalism in the cold war era. However, Gruen’s accomplishments were gradually compromised by the interest of money-minded developers and construction industry actors, and the shopping mall arguably never fulfilled the social and cultural function that Gruen anticipated. Regardless of such outcomes, the production of capitalist space as scripted by Gruen is still determining everyday life in consumer society, making Gruen a key figure, albeit only limitedly recognized, in the history of late modern society and in the capitalist economy. Originality/value The paper emphasizes the role of Victor Gruen in the post-Second World War period, being one of the most influential practitioners and social reformers in the era. Furthermore, the paper stresses how market liquidity is a key concern in Gruen’s project to create a communal space for the American suburban population in the era of the expanding welfare state.


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