A New View of Society and Other Writings

by Robert Owen

In his early works Owen argues that, since individuals are wholly formed by their environment, education is the crucial factor in transforming them. Later he came to adopt far more radical positions, proposing nothing less than 'the emancipation of mankind' and the creation of a 'new moral world', a full-scale reorganization of British society, major reforms of working practices and the Poor Laws and the establishment of co-operative model.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Economics, History, 19th Century, Essays

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1813

About the author

In 1771, reformer and philanthropist Robert Owen was born in Wales. He became known as "a capitalist who became the first Socialist." Owen started work as a clerk at age nine. With help from a sympathetic cloth merchant to whom he was apprenticed, Owen educated himself. Owen was an unbeliever by 14, influenced by Seneca, and his acquaintance with chemist John Dalton and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. By 18, Owen established a small spinning mill in Manchester. He married the daughter of a Glasgow cotton manufacturer, purchasing his father-in-law's New Lanark mills in Scotland. Owen set out to put his humanitarian creed into practice, and turned New Lanark into a model community attracting the attention of reformers around the world.

Owen set up the first infant-school in Britain, and a three-grade school for children under ten. He appealed to the government and other manufacturers to follow his lead, but was rebuffed by clergy-led opposition when his views on religion became widely known. At a public meeting calling for "villages of unity and cooperation," living wages and education of the poor at the City of London Tavern (Aug. 21, 1817), Owen called "all religions" false. He sought to limit hours for child labor in mills in 1815, and saw passage of a watered-down Factory Act in 1819. Owen's Essays on the Principle of the Formation of Human Character (1816) were his major treatises, in which he advised: "Relieve the human mind from useless and superstitious restraints."

He founded New Harmony, a model settlement in Indiana, in 1825-28--a failed venture which he signed over to his sons Robert Dale and William Owen. Owen wrote Debate on the Evidences of Christianity (1829). Owen founded the Economist in 1821 to promote his progressive views, and The New Moral World in 1834, along with an ethical movement called "Rational Religion." His "Halls of Science" attracted thousands of nonreligious followers ("Owenites") and the trade unions. Owen founded several other publications. His autobiography was published in 1857-58. Joseph McCabe called him "the father of British reformers, and one of the highest-minded men Britain ever produced." (Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists, 1920). D. 1858.

Reviews

[John Hatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nothing less than astonishing! Robert Owen - not just because he wrote down these ideas over 200 years ago (in 1813) - was a genius, whose ideas would solve even today many of the world's problems, peacefully. And remember that he proved it (you can read about it in Wikipedia) a generation (some 60 or 70 years) BEFORE Marx and Engels!

[Trystan W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daddy? Sorry. Daddy? Sorry. Daddy?

I would die for this man, kill for him, kill myself for him, everything. Not a single thing he says is unfounded or incorrect. Imagine, forming a system for governing people by actually paying attention to their wants and needs! Imagine! Literally every day I am devastated that he was made a pariah.

[Jara Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ongelooflijk interessant, inspirerend en hoopvol. De nadruk op educatie en de opvoedende rol van onderwijs vond ik heel belangrijk en ook relevant in het huidige tijdsbeeld en het huidige kabinet.

Vind het altijd heel leerzaam om teksten van grondleggers en grote denkers te lezen en dan te reflecteren op wat moderne denkers te zeggen hebben. Het is op een hele begrijpelijke manier geschreven alleen richting het einde van het vierde essay wordt het wel een heel herhaaldelijk verhaal dat het niet perse sterker of duidelijker maakt.

Robert Owen maakt goede punten maar vergeet 1 ding: ignorance is bliss

[AlJohara AlShegri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an age old essay and a prominent theory that has driven the socialist move. It is my very first read on this topic and to my surprise I found myself sharing the views, values and frustrations of the author! To say the least, I am very intrigued by the topic - and definitely it wont be my last read on it. If anyone has any recommendations exploring this topic, please, do share.

[Rasha Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually I bought this book by accident from a book fair i was looking for any English book to read but not a novel and caught this !
It's totally astonishing !

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Owen was far more than a socialist theoretician. The typical example of the paternalistic 'manager' he incarnates, also, what the so-called philanthropical capitalism was all about, being the master head of an audacious utopia (New Lanark) which saw the implementation of many reforms, some astonishingly modern, and those repercussions would inspire from anarchists to Engels and Marx.

Tiny Scottish village centred around a textile factory, New Lanark served indeed as a laboratory where Robert Owen, having full power over a disempowered working class community, will test and apply his theories -from new production methods in his factories to dictating the living condition of his employees themselves. Productivity would be closely supervised and monitored, but breaktime would be extended. Children would not be forced to work, but, on the contrary, send to school where a liberal curriculum was taught (and, even, equipped with playgrounds!). Nurseries were specifically created for babies those parents were at work in his factories. Hygiene, even into people's households, was strictly controlled. Open public spaces were created... Owen implemented so many policies, in fact, that it's difficult to isolate any in particular when it comes to how audacious and radically new such model was!

A man of the Enlightenment, he in fact believed that people were shaped by their environment. At the time of the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of a growing working class, worrying then the social establishment for the potential troubles this could mean for their privileges, his view was nevertheless nothing but simple: in order to avoid such working classes to revolt, then one should avoid them to be pushed towards the 'vices' of the time (criminality, alcoholism, prostitution, violence...) which may lead to threatening social instability. New Lanark, then, surely was an admirable model for keeping people away from dreadful living conditions such as the slums so prevalent at the times, but it was, also, a powerful mean of control, to keep the lower classes strictly compliant while making quite substantial profits.

Was Owen really a philanthropist? Or was he merely cynical? Being fully in charge of people having otherwise not much of a choice (him paying their wages) such community was better than other settings for sure, yet it also smack of a totalitarian environment. Reading this I couldn't help but think about the Soviet model and how life might have been behind the Iron Curtain. Dreadful? Yes, and yet...

And yet, for a man emerging with the Industrial Revolution (he died in 1858) the modernity of his reforms, his spirit courageously libertarian, the incredible fervour with which he defended his ideas (especially his fight against the politicians of the time for the betterment of children's conditions and of the poor in general) cannot but leave inspired somehow. Even nowadays, in fact, some of his powerful arguments haven't lost any of their relevance, and, yes, even in Britain!

There's a lot to condemn in Robert Owen. 'The road to hell is paved with good intent', as they say, and his imposing of his personal view of how people should live to help make a better profit for him and his social class, views imposed with concerned people having no choice in the matter, may have been 'enlightened' at the time; but we ought to know better. Having said that, he was surely armed with good intent regardless; and one has to admit that, in our contemporary society more GDP friendly than family friendly, we ought to take heed and learn from some of his most astonishing reforms. Robert Owen, after all, couldn't have been perfect -and he was a man of his time. He might have believed 'scientific management' would solve all of our problems, but we're not tiny robots. Sorting out the wheat from the chaff, this remains a great political manifesto.

[Peyman HAGH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Owen tested his social and economic ideas at New Lanark, where he gained the trust of his workers and achieved success by improving efficiency at the mill. The community also gained international recognition. Social reformers, politicians, and royalty, including the future Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, visited New Lanark to study its methods. These visits not only validated Owen's ideas but also spread his influence globally, inspiring similar social and economic experiments in other parts of the world.

Many of these visitors had favourable opinions. However, some of Owen's plans displeased his partners, leading him to arrange for other investors to buy his share of the business in 1813 for the equivalent of US$800,000. The new investors, who included Jeremy Bentham and the well-known Quaker William Allen, were satisfied with a £5,000 return on their capital. The change in ownership also allowed Owen to expand his philanthropic efforts, advocating for worker rights improvements, child labour laws, and free education for children. This change, though challenging, only served to fuel Owen's determination and did not deter him from his mission.

Owen believed that circumstances beyond individual control shape human character. Therefore, individuals should not be praised or blamed for their behaviour or life situation. Owen concluded that the proper development of people's characters required exposing them to appropriate environmental influences – physical, moral, and social – from early childhood. These ideas about inherent human irresponsibility and the impact of early influences on an individual's character formed the foundation of Owen's educational and social reform system.

Based on his observations, experiences, and thoughts, Owen considered his perspective on human nature to be original and "the most fundamental and essential element in a developing science of society." His philosophy was shaped by Sir Isaac Newton's ideas on natural law, and it bore similarities to the views of Plato, Denis Diderot, Claude Adrien Helvétius, William Godwin, John Locke, James Mill, and Jeremy Bentham, among others. Notably, Enlightenment philosophers did not directly influence Owen.

Owen's vision was not just about reforms, but about creating a more harmonious environment that promoted mutual respect, love and moral values. He believed everyone would have a good education and better living conditions. He valued social and educational reforms for the middle class and rejected the capitalist power, which elevated influential figures at the expense of others. Regardless of his adversaries' attacks, he remained persuasive of his goals. Owen's strong belief in the transformative power of education led him to fund kids' schools and advocate for free education, equal rights and freedom. He also participated in legislation to improve labourers' wages and working conditions.

Owen believed compassion, kindness, and solidarity could correct bad habits, encourage self-discipline, and enhance a person's attitude. He thought that force oppressed people and affected their mental health. In his view, without proper education, equal job opportunities, and social norms, differences between labour classes, conflicts, and inequalities would persist, just as in the British colonies. He believed that the working classes, if given the right opportunities and support, could contribute significantly to society. He opposed the views of radicals seeking to change public mentality by expanding voting rights, as he believed that true change could only come from a comprehensive reform of the social and economic systems.

[conor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. Lots of intriguing ideas and a fascinating blend of practical actionable ideas and more visionary ideals, but always with an insistence on their inherent practicality (if people would just realize Owen’s main point—that all bad things are tied to ignorance and we can shape the character of humanity to be whatever we want through some educational efforts). The missionary zeal and evangelization that seems inherent in Owen’s theoretical framework is fascinating given the way that he is explicitly uninterested in religion (and views it with great suspicion, though also taking some core Christian ideas and arguing that you don’t need the Christian framework to make them work and that they actually work better outside Christianity). The religiosity of his ideas on the whole is interesting (as is the way that he situates himself towards religion). There’s also some interesting proto-restorative justice sorts of ideas at work here, I think.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Political Studies to undertsand Socialist Views.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

He claims wild success with his formation of character...I wonder if it's true. What a spectacular idea.

[ػᶈᶏϾӗ]

Certainly interesting. I agree that human nature is utterly flexible, disagree that reason will somehow create peace and harmony. Also, Owen and his adherents failed to critique the nation-state, so he contributed to what Foucault sees as the creation of biopower. And led us to WWI.