John Stuart Mill
As an important liberal thinker of the 19th Century, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) focused on the conflict between liberal democracy and democratic political equality by looking at capitalism with a human face and positing that the political process can subdue the excesses of capitalism. His vision was one of progress through capitalism controlled by democratic politics - and a critical response to the taxation-and-labor-focused political economy of David Ricardo.
Mill argued that achieving a capitalist consensus takes time and that four things are needed for this consensus. First, we must develop improvements in the standard of living overall; there should be no huge gaps between classes. Second there must be a perception of upward mobility for enough people so as not to develop a caste system. Third, liberal democratic nation-states should grant a minimum amount of reforms to be legitimate and not be considered elitist. Finally, the old goals must be destroyed and replaced with a vision of a different and future life that provides betterment for everyone.
These 'old goals' he wanted replaced was the utilitarian notion of happiness through the accumulation of stuff. Mill opposed this notion and began to reject the utilitarian rational thinking after his nervous breakdown that was brought about when Mill asked himself, `What would happen when all my goals are realized?'
From this, Mill plunged himself into the writings of the German Idealists and the French political thinkers. He began to reject egoism and then looked at the lower class' plight, the problem of democracy and the question of socialism. From this he began to see the human face of capitalism, which he thought to be the most productive and, thus, best and inevitable, system of economy. However, he saw that the distribution of the product was the problem. He countered this problem by positing that an interventionist popular democracy can control hardships through programs such as social security pensions, equal opportunity, public education, and better roads and housing all made possible by taxation of the wealthy which would also bring political stability. This almost utopian vision held that the free contract system of the time was unfair and that it was not so much `free contract' as it was slavery. The worker's remuneration was simply not proportional to their exertion thus he thought the system needed alterations to provide equitable proportions.
Mill was also interested in such life betterment reforms as profit sharing and producer owned cooperatives. However, he did not think of socialism as a viable solution because of the egoism inherent in mankind.
Mill proved insensitive to the inequalities of capitalism in that he thought the lower classes could be made smaller through population control. His theory of `trickle down' economics did prove to a higher standard of living for all, but as it pushed the GNP outward, it widened the gap between the working class and the elite. Furthermore, while an idea of upward mobility may have been perceived, the actual problem of inequality never actually went away. This view continues to inspire capitalist parties, who are less sensitive to outcome inequality than socialist parties, and emphasize instead equal opportunity.
The basic conflict between views of Mill and David Ricardo is still considered to have begun the modern debates on political economy.
The life of John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was born on the 20th of May 1806 in his fathers house in Pentonville, London. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing by his father, James Mill, a strict disciplinarian. His feats as a child were exceptional; at the age of three was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By age 8 he had read Aesop’s Fables, Xenophon’s Anabasis, and the whole of Herodotus, and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laërtius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato (see his Autobiography). He had also read a great deal of history in English.
A contemporary record of Mill’s studies from eight to thirteen is published in Bain’s sketch of his life. It suggests that his autobiography rather understates the amount of work done! At the age of eight he began Latin, Euclid, and algebra, and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading was still history, but he went through all the Latin and Greek authors commonly read in the schools and universities at the time. He was not taught to compose either in Latin or in Greek, and he was never an exact scholar; it was for the subject matter that he was required to read, and by the age of ten he could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father’s History of India was published in 1818; immediately thereafter, about the age of twelve, John began a ‘thorough study of the scholastic logic, at the same time reading Aristotle’s logical treatises in the original. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and Ricardo with his father - ultimately completing their classical economic view of factors of production.