This page is about the economic historian Arnold Toynbee; for the universal historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee see this article. For further Toynbees and related topics see the disambiguation page Toynbee.

Arnold Toynbee (August 23, 1852 - March 9, 1883) was a British economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working class. Arnold Joseph Toynbee (April 14, 1889 - October 22, 1975) was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934-1961, was a synthesis of global history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline. ... Toynbee can refer to (in chronological order): Joseph Toynbee, British physician, pioneer of otolaryngology, Arnold Toynbee, British economist, son of Joseph Toynbee Toynbee Hall, a settlement in London inspired by and named in honour of Arnold Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee, British historian, nephew of Arnold Toynbee Philip Toynbee, British writer... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Economic history is the application of economic theories to historical study. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

Biography

Arnold Toynbee

Toynbee was born in London as the son of the physician Joseph Toynbee, a pioneering otolaryngologist in his time; the more famous universal historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975), with whom he is often confused, was his nephew. Toynbee attended public schools in Blackheath and Woolwich. In 1873 he began to study political economy at Oxford, first at Pembroke College and from 1875 at Balliol College, where he went on to teach after his graduation in 1878. His lectures on the history of the Industrial Revolution in 18th and 19th century Britain proved widely influential; in fact, Toynbee coined, or at least effectively popularised, the term "Industrial Revolution" in the Anglophone world—in Germany and elsewhere it had been brought into circulation earlier by Friedrich Engels, also under the impression of the industrial changes in Britain. Toynbee died at age 30 in 1883, after his health had rapidly deteriorated probably due to exhaustion by excessive work. Image File history File links File links The following pages link to this file: Arnold Toynbee ... Image File history File links File links The following pages link to this file: Arnold Toynbee ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Otolaryngology is the branch of medicine that specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head & neck disorders. ... Arnold Joseph Toynbee (April 14, 1889 - October 22, 1975) was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934-1961, was a synthesis of global history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline. ... 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... The term public school has different meanings: In England and Wales, one of a small number of prestigious historic schools open to the public which normally charge fees and are financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as private charitable trusts; here the word public is used much as... Blackheath is a place in London, divided between the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Woolwich (pronounced Woolitch) is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... There are several Pembroke Colleges: Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College, Oxford This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Full name Balliol College Motto - Named after John de Balliol Previous names - Established 1263 Sister College St Johns College, Cambridge Master Andrew Graham (academic) Location Broad Street Undergraduates 403 Graduates 228 Homepage Boatclub Balliol College, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Industrial Revolution was the major technological, socioeconomic and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820–August 5, 1895) was a 19th-century German political philosopher. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England

A collection of Toynbee's lectures was published posthumously in 1884 and soon became a classic of British economic history. In them, Toynbee reconstructs the theories of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo in their respective historic contexts and vice versa. He generally argued for a stronger historical orientation in the interpretation of economic developments, and criticised economics as too abstract and deductive. For example, the reason "why one-half of the land in the United Kingdom is owned by 2512 persons" could only be understood in a historical perspective. 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... Economic history is the application of economic theories to historical study. ... Adam Smith Adam Smith, FRS (Baptised June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790) was a Scottish political economist and moral philosopher. ... The Rev. ... David Ricardo (April 18, 1772 — September 11, 1823), a British political economist, is often credited with systematizing economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists. ...

At the same time, Toynbee warned not to dismiss deductive economics altogether in favour of the historical approach; rather, deductive theory and historical empiricism needed to influence each other, as economic knowledge also enables a deeper understanding of historical developments. Toynbee criticised "party historians" because "they seek to read into the past the controversies of the present". Instead, according to Toynbee, one "must pursue facts for their own sake, but penetrated with a vivid sense of the problems of your own time".

Also, according to Toynbee, applying the historical method in economics would reveal how supposedly universal economic laws were in fact relative. For example, he argued that, in spite of commonly held beliefs, free trade was not generally advantageous in itself, but only under certain circumstances which should not be considered absolute. Toynbee considered few laws as universally true, such as the law of diminishing returns. Therefore, there were no universal rules as to how strongly the state should interfere into the market, either; depending on the situation, different degrees of regulation could be appropriate. Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ...

Another idea Toynbee dismissed was to consider free competition as universally beneficial to economic and societal progress, especially as reflected in its apotheosis in Social Darwinism, which promotes laissez-faire capitalism. Toynbee suggests to distinguish between "a struggle for mere existence and a struggle for a particular kind of existence." From the very beginning of history, he argues, all human civilization was essentially designed to "interfere with this brute struggle. We intend to modify the violence of the fight, and to prevent the weak being trampled under foot." Although economic competition does have its advantages, being the driving force behind technical progress, these were "gained at the expense of an enormous waste of human life and labour, which might be avoided by regulation." Toynbee suggests to differentiate between competition in production on the one hand, and competition in the distribution of goods on the other hand: "[...] the struggle of men to outvie one another in production is beneficial to the community; their struggle over the division of the joint produce is not. The stronger side will dictate its own terms; and as a matter of fact, in the early days of competition the capitalists used all their power to oppress the labourers, and drove down wages to starvation point. This kind of competition has to be checked; there is no historical instance of its having lasted long without being modified either by combination or legislation, or both. In England both remedies are in operation, the former through Trades Unions, the latter through factory legislation." In itself, a market based on competition was neither good nor bad, but like "a stream whose strength and direction have to be observed, that embankments may be thrown up within which it may do its work harmlessly and beneficially". However, in the early phase of industrial capitalism "it came to be believed in as a gospel, [...] from which it was regarded as little short of immoral to depart". Social Darwinism is a social theory which holds that Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection is not only a model for the development of biological traits in a population, but can also be applied to human social institutions. ... Laissez-faire capitalism is, roughly stated, the doctrine that the free market functions to the greatest good when left unfettered and unregulated by government. ...

Social commitment

For Toynbee, early industrial capitalism and the situation of the working class in it was not only a subject of ivory-tower studies; he was actively involved in improving the living conditions of the proletariat. He read for workers in large industrial centres and encouraged the creation of trade unions and co-operatives. A focal point of his commitment was the slum of Whitechapel in East London, where he helped to establish public libraries for the working class population. Toynbee also encouraged his students to offer free courses for working class audiences in their own neighbourhoods. The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ... Whitechapel is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... East London (Afrikaans: Oos-Londen, Xhosa: Imonti) is a city in southeast South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province at 32. ...

Inspired by Toynbee's ideas, Samuel Augustus Barnett and Henrietta Barnett founded the first university settlement shortly after his death in 1884, which was named Toynbee Hall in his honour and still exists today. The concept to bring upper and middle class students into lower class neighbourhoods, not only to provide education and social aid, but to actually live and work together with their inhabitants, soon inspired a worldwide movement of university settlements. The idea was to help members of the future elite understand the problems of British society; this was especially important at a time when class divisions were much stronger, social mobility was minimal, and the living conditions of the poor were completely unknown to many members of the upper class. Toynbee Hall attracted many students, especially from Wadham College and Balliol College where Toynbee had taught. Samuel Augustus Barnett (February 8, 1844 - 1913) was an English clergyman and social reformer particularly associated with the establishment of the first university settlement, Toynbee Hall in east London in 1884. ... Dame Henrietta Barnett (1851 – 1936) was a notable English social reformer. ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... Toynbee Hall is the original university settlement house. ... Wadham College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...

Works

• 1884: Lectures On The Industrial Revolution In England. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing (paperback edition 2004). ISBN 141912952X

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

Arnold Toynbee

1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... Image File history File links i would like to see some quotations by or about goebbels. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

External links

• McMaster University, Archive for the History of Economic Thought - full text of Lectures On The Industrial Revolution In England
• toynbeehall.org.uk - Toynbee Hall official website