Naslov
Wakefield’s A Letter from Sydney and Gentlemanly Capitalism

Autori
Klepač, Tihana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Kulturna povijest kapitalizma: Britanija, Amerika, Hrvatska / - , 2017, 15-15

Skup
Kulturna povijest kapitalizma: Britanija, Amerika, Hrvatska

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 07.04.2017. - 08.04.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
Gentlemanly capitalism, New Imperialism, Wakefield, A Letter from Sydney

Sažetak
Gentlemanly capitalism (or New Imperialism) was first put forward by the historians Peter J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins in the 1980s and developed in their 1993 work British Imperialism. The theory posits that British imperialism was driven by the business interests of the City of London and landed interests. They claimed that there is an ideology underlying Britain's overseas expansion and her specifically imperialist ventures during the period 1688-1945. It stemmed from a particular pattern of economic development which was set in train at the close of the seventeenth century and which survived, through various mutations, to the end of empire and beyond and is rooted in gentlemanly interests. The three principles ; that of land sales, selected immigration, and self-government, the chief factors of Wakefield's theory or „systematic colonisation“ were not new, but he was the first to systematically combine them. The theory Wakefield proposes that land, instead of being given away, should be sold at a “sufficient price” (one high enough to prevent a labourer from becoming a land-owner too quickly), and thus a capitalist would have enough labour to pay the passage of new emigrants who would be forced to wage labour until they had saved enough money to buy land for themselves. The proceeds from the sale of lands were to be spent in paying the passages of selected young married couples. Free immigrants would improve the moral tone of the colony, other classes than labourers would be induced to emigrate, and the colonies would not longer be „new“, but „extensions of old societies“ and Britain would become the centre of the most extensive, the most civilised, and above all, the happiest empire in the world.“ Relying on the Enlightenment premise that civilization is closely tethered to economic development Wakefield’s scheme of “systematic colonization” presented an attempt to resolve the famous problem of “falling profits” in England, while at the same time ensuring “civilized” colonial settlements. These policy measures coalesced into a grand plan for alleviating the economic troubles of the British metropole and making sure that such alleviation did not come at the price of barbarizing British subjects in the colonies.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija, Povijest, Književnost

POVEZANOST RADA