The Theory of Social Revolutions eBook Brooks Adams
Download As PDF : The Theory of Social Revolutions eBook Brooks Adams 
American historian Brooks Adams critised capitalism and sort to explain the development of commercialism, he theorised a predictable rise and fall in commercial activities with the formation of commercial centres based on a need for such activities to be more easily practised. He also expounded upon the desire to increase individual wealth which leads to the discarding of spiritual values and an eventual and total break down of society as a result of greed.
The Theory of Social Revolutions eBook Brooks Adams
It confounds socialists, but the existence of the working class Tory is not the only anomaly in theory that economic class interest is the primary determinant of social/political behavior. The socially progressive elite is the other; and Brooks Adams is a 100-year-old example. Born into the famous Adams dynasty, a Boston Brahmin if ever there was one, Adams gives us his analysis of the rise of capitalism and a theory of social revolutions, and especially his view of how courts work, from a thoroughly Progressive perspective ala 1913.THE THEORY OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS consists of 6 chapters of dense prose. I listened to them twice on a Librivox recording because I had difficulty with the first chapter and found the last 4 so compelling. (The reader, a young woman who does not identify herself, reads at just the right pace to facilitate listening to this heavy material; though her voice is soft, and I had to turn up the volume, her enunciation was very good and understandable. It was marred occasionally by mispronunciation ["go-VER-ning" for "GOV-er-ning"] , especially of French names [though I am in no position to throw stones here!]).
The opening chapter originally appeared as a journal piece after the 1912 Republican Convention which chose Taft instead of the popular and progressive Theodore Roosevelt . Adams interprets these events in the light of his theory of social revolutions, that establishment types don't see the political shifts taking place and so oppose them rather than accommodate to them, losing everything rather than conserving much. Adams sees the conservative capitalists who backed the losing Taft (who ended up carrying 1 state) as acting according to his theory for they split the Republican Party, handing the election to Wilson and the Democrats rather than deal with their own TR. Because of its assumption of contemporary events which are lost on us 100 years later, and the weak example - Wilson's election represented a political shift but certainly not a social revolution- this is the weakest (and most obscure) chapter in his treatise.
The remaining chapters present us with much more worthwhile analysis and material. Two and Three trace the role of the American judicial system (mostly the Supreme Court) in the struggle of economic interests. Adams argues that Hamilton's conception of the courts as expressing "judgment" rather than "will" (the latter being reserved for legislatures accountable to the people) was unrealistic, and that all aspects of government are really instruments of class interest. John Marshall and colleagues were a hold over of Federalist attempt to define the rules of the new society contrary to the thinking of Jeffersonians and their favoring of nullification. Marshall had the prudence not to attempt more than the society would bear, so in Marbury vs. Madison, he claimed the Court's authority of judicial review of Federal legislation while at the same time refusing relief to Marbury, knowing that the Jefferson administration would defy the Court in any case. Later, the New York Supreme Court developed a doctrine of "reasonableness" which was taken up by the US Supreme Court, that legislation could be reviewed for its reasonableness and disallowed for that reason, so that economic measures rates, fares, etc. could be reviewed by courts instead of allowing legislatures to have the last word. Adams concludes that the Supreme Court had become analogous to England's House of Lords, unable to initiate legislation, but having a veto.
All this is to show Adams' theory- that political institutions reflect the social classes in power. As change occurs in economic and technical spheres, so the center of power shifts among the social classes. Those in power can accommodate these changes, or they can oppose them and risk disaster if not annihilation. Chapters four and five deal with an example of the latter in the French Revolution. Members of the Ancient Regime refused any limitations on their prerogatives (as required by the Natural Law concept of equality under the law) and assumed that they would win in any violent confrontation. Their court system proved irredeemable in this respect, always deferring to priests and nobles, leading the Revolution to replace it with political courts, which Adams recognizes are not deliberative bodies seeking justice, but administrative boards seeking to impose the political will of the administration in power. The tribunals set up to deal with the Royalists eventually became the same tools used to destroy the Radicals- Robespierre and associates. Adams' account of the turmoil and success of the Revolution in the face of the European coalition against it was the most fascinating part of the book. The circumstance wherein the Revolution executed people in order to confiscate their wealth is particularly worth pondering.
Some attention, though much too little, is given to the real social revolution in America centered on the War between the States. Again, the slave holding interests had attained economic power through cotton (facilitated by the cotton gin) but these planters and allied interests could not compromise with the Republican administration and chose war and annihilation for themselves. Under Roger B. Taney the Supreme Court spoke for them; but under Salmon P. Chase, the Court would be remade to speak for the new interests in power.
Brooks Adams is sometimes referred to as a "critic of capitalism." This has to be carefully understood. For Adams is a holdover from a previous social class, old money. That class had more money than others, but did not regard it polite to reveal this. Like the wealthy man in the village, he would relate to others as an equal, hiding his wealth so as to avoid envy. It was not the basis for social respect in any case. Virtue, service, education, personal accomplishment were what people were praised for, not money! But late 19th Century America had become dominated by Capitalists, folks like Carnagie who had come from working class themselves and accumulated money. Adams faults them because they overcame circumstance to build their empires and to them, law was simply another circumstance to be overcome. Hence, lawyers who could win cases and open up avenues for the capitalists won recognition in their fields, not those who championed the integrity of the Law. This is where Adams would seem to have it both ways. He criticizes the capitalists for narrowly construing their own interests, yet seems to have abandoned his own (and Hamilton's original vision) of a national law based upon a Natural law with some theory of justice that is other than subjective, or relative to social class interests.
So much has changed since Adams' time, and yet so little. Adams wrote in the day transformed by the automobile, airplane and telephone. Cities like Detroit were dominated by foreigners (60% spoke German as their primary language); families were disintegrating (capitalists wanted profit from the labor of women and children). The ebb and flow are still with us. The belief, which lends itself to cynicism, that political structures express economic class interests, is still with us. It lies behind the Supreme Court decision invalidating DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), which Adams would regard as an accommodation to the inevitable because social values flow from economic class interests.
Product details
|
Tags : Buy The Theory of Social Revolutions: Read 1 Books Reviews - Amazon.com,ebook,Brooks Adams,The Theory of Social Revolutions,BookRix
People also read other books :
- Rubaiyat Edward Fitzgerald Omar Khayyam G and Son bkp Norman CUBANC Books
- Blind Faith (Audible Audio Edition) Ellen Wittlinger Eileen Stevens Audible Studios Books
- Rubaiyat Edward Fitzgerald Omar Khayyam G and Son bkp Norman CUBANC Books
- The Fear Cure Cultivating Courage as Medicine for the Body Mind and Soul (Audible Audio Edition) Lissa Rankin MD Jenn Morris Hay House Books
- Wrestling Ichabod A Christian Romance edition by Diane Lil Adams Religion Spirituality eBooks
The Theory of Social Revolutions eBook Brooks Adams Reviews
It confounds socialists, but the existence of the working class Tory is not the only anomaly in theory that economic class interest is the primary determinant of social/political behavior. The socially progressive elite is the other; and Brooks Adams is a 100-year-old example. Born into the famous Adams dynasty, a Boston Brahmin if ever there was one, Adams gives us his analysis of the rise of capitalism and a theory of social revolutions, and especially his view of how courts work, from a thoroughly Progressive perspective ala 1913.
THE THEORY OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS consists of 6 chapters of dense prose. I listened to them twice on a Librivox recording because I had difficulty with the first chapter and found the last 4 so compelling. (The reader, a young woman who does not identify herself, reads at just the right pace to facilitate listening to this heavy material; though her voice is soft, and I had to turn up the volume, her enunciation was very good and understandable. It was marred occasionally by mispronunciation ["go-VER-ning" for "GOV-er-ning"] , especially of French names [though I am in no position to throw stones here!]).
The opening chapter originally appeared as a journal piece after the 1912 Republican Convention which chose Taft instead of the popular and progressive Theodore Roosevelt . Adams interprets these events in the light of his theory of social revolutions, that establishment types don't see the political shifts taking place and so oppose them rather than accommodate to them, losing everything rather than conserving much. Adams sees the conservative capitalists who backed the losing Taft (who ended up carrying 1 state) as acting according to his theory for they split the Republican Party, handing the election to Wilson and the Democrats rather than deal with their own TR. Because of its assumption of contemporary events which are lost on us 100 years later, and the weak example - Wilson's election represented a political shift but certainly not a social revolution- this is the weakest (and most obscure) chapter in his treatise.
The remaining chapters present us with much more worthwhile analysis and material. Two and Three trace the role of the American judicial system (mostly the Supreme Court) in the struggle of economic interests. Adams argues that Hamilton's conception of the courts as expressing "judgment" rather than "will" (the latter being reserved for legislatures accountable to the people) was unrealistic, and that all aspects of government are really instruments of class interest. John Marshall and colleagues were a hold over of Federalist attempt to define the rules of the new society contrary to the thinking of Jeffersonians and their favoring of nullification. Marshall had the prudence not to attempt more than the society would bear, so in Marbury vs. Madison, he claimed the Court's authority of judicial review of Federal legislation while at the same time refusing relief to Marbury, knowing that the Jefferson administration would defy the Court in any case. Later, the New York Supreme Court developed a doctrine of "reasonableness" which was taken up by the US Supreme Court, that legislation could be reviewed for its reasonableness and disallowed for that reason, so that economic measures rates, fares, etc. could be reviewed by courts instead of allowing legislatures to have the last word. Adams concludes that the Supreme Court had become analogous to England's House of Lords, unable to initiate legislation, but having a veto.
All this is to show Adams' theory- that political institutions reflect the social classes in power. As change occurs in economic and technical spheres, so the center of power shifts among the social classes. Those in power can accommodate these changes, or they can oppose them and risk disaster if not annihilation. Chapters four and five deal with an example of the latter in the French Revolution. Members of the Ancient Regime refused any limitations on their prerogatives (as required by the Natural Law concept of equality under the law) and assumed that they would win in any violent confrontation. Their court system proved irredeemable in this respect, always deferring to priests and nobles, leading the Revolution to replace it with political courts, which Adams recognizes are not deliberative bodies seeking justice, but administrative boards seeking to impose the political will of the administration in power. The tribunals set up to deal with the Royalists eventually became the same tools used to destroy the Radicals- Robespierre and associates. Adams' account of the turmoil and success of the Revolution in the face of the European coalition against it was the most fascinating part of the book. The circumstance wherein the Revolution executed people in order to confiscate their wealth is particularly worth pondering.
Some attention, though much too little, is given to the real social revolution in America centered on the War between the States. Again, the slave holding interests had attained economic power through cotton (facilitated by the cotton gin) but these planters and allied interests could not compromise with the Republican administration and chose war and annihilation for themselves. Under Roger B. Taney the Supreme Court spoke for them; but under Salmon P. Chase, the Court would be remade to speak for the new interests in power.
Brooks Adams is sometimes referred to as a "critic of capitalism." This has to be carefully understood. For Adams is a holdover from a previous social class, old money. That class had more money than others, but did not regard it polite to reveal this. Like the wealthy man in the village, he would relate to others as an equal, hiding his wealth so as to avoid envy. It was not the basis for social respect in any case. Virtue, service, education, personal accomplishment were what people were praised for, not money! But late 19th Century America had become dominated by Capitalists, folks like Carnagie who had come from working class themselves and accumulated money. Adams faults them because they overcame circumstance to build their empires and to them, law was simply another circumstance to be overcome. Hence, lawyers who could win cases and open up avenues for the capitalists won recognition in their fields, not those who championed the integrity of the Law. This is where Adams would seem to have it both ways. He criticizes the capitalists for narrowly construing their own interests, yet seems to have abandoned his own (and Hamilton's original vision) of a national law based upon a Natural law with some theory of justice that is other than subjective, or relative to social class interests.
So much has changed since Adams' time, and yet so little. Adams wrote in the day transformed by the automobile, airplane and telephone. Cities like Detroit were dominated by foreigners (60% spoke German as their primary language); families were disintegrating (capitalists wanted profit from the labor of women and children). The ebb and flow are still with us. The belief, which lends itself to cynicism, that political structures express economic class interests, is still with us. It lies behind the Supreme Court decision invalidating DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), which Adams would regard as an accommodation to the inevitable because social values flow from economic class interests.
0 Response to "≡ Descargar The Theory of Social Revolutions eBook Brooks Adams"
Post a Comment