News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life. Parent comment

Re:Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will l... by api on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @10:32AM (#27516065)
The industrial revolution mostly happened in England. American industrialization came later and was mostly imported at first via the same kind of industrial espionage plus protectionism that China is using today. (The USA was the China of the 19th century.)

Slavery dwindled away in England around the same time and was abolished in 1833 right before the industrial revolution really went white hot.

I should have mentioned the connection was a hypothesis. It's also possible that causation goes the other way and industrialization led to abolition by reducing demand for slaves. It's easier to make moral progress when it doesn't cost very much, which is why in our current society you see a whole lot of very inexpensive "corporate woke" virtue signaling but massive pushback if someone mentions the word "union" or "increasing the minimum wage."

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will l... by pram on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @11:37AM (#27517014)
England imported the cotton that was harvested by slaves in the new world. The fact that the manufacturing of finished goods was based on wage labor doesn’t change that the required raw inputs depended on exploitation elsewhere. Unless you think there were lots of wage based cotton plantations in England.
[ Parent | on HN ]