What did Carnegie Think of the inequality of wealth in industrial America?
How does Carnegie view inequality?
Carnegie, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland at age 12, had a more modest upbringing than Sumner. This certainly influenced his viewpoints on wealth and the class system in America. In addition, Carnegie believed that inequality was an inevitable byproduct of social evolution beyond human control.
What views did Andrew Carnegie Express about wealth inequality in industrial America?
He believe that the rich should distribute their wealth responsibly to benefit society. One of his quotes say, “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Carnegie starts off talking social Darwinism, the issue of inequality and how and if he could fix it.
How did Carnegie justify wealth inequality?
In “The Gospel of Wealth,” Carnegie argued that extremely wealthy Americans like himself had a responsibility to spend their money in order to benefit the greater good. In other words, the richest Americans should actively engage in philanthropy and charity in order to close the widening gap between rich and poor.
What role did Andrew Carnegie envision for the poor?
Carnegie did not want to just give money to the poor as a means of redistributing wealth. His gospel of wealth say that the redistribution must be done in a responsible and thoughtful manner. He opposed governmental forced redistribution of wealth.
How did Carnegie get his wealth?
Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. While working for the railroad, he invested in various ventures, including iron and oil companies, and made his first fortune by the time he was in his early 30s.
What would Carnegie say about the great inequalities of wealth in this country today?
The greatest problem we face today is the proper administration of wealth, so that the rich and poor can live harmoniously. The conditions of human life have been revolutionized within the past few hundred years. There used to be little difference between a chief and his people.
Why does Carnegie think that the concentration of enormous wealth in the hands of individuals is both good and necessary?
Carnegie, a steel magnate, argued that very wealthy men like him had a responsibility to use their wealth for the greater good of society. He reasoned that rich men were the smartest and most organized in a society, so they would be best suited to administer their own wealth.
What did Carnegie say are three ways to use wealth?
There are but three modes in which surplus wealth can be disposed of. It can be left to the families of the decedents; or it can be bequeathed for public purposes; or, finally, it can be administered during their lives by its possessors.
What does Carnegie believe is the reason some people gain huge amounts of wealth while others are poor?
Their struggle to achieve would, generation after generation, bring the best and the brightest to the top. As part of his justification for accumulating a large fortune, Carnegie also advocated that wealthy individuals should give away their money during their lifetimes in order to benefit society.
What did Carnegie believe were the advantages of competition and concentration of wealth?
According to Carnegie, the advantages of competition are the prices of paying either for cheap or expensive needs, where people have more options to get what they need. The disadvantages are clear. The employer who employs many is always subject to the strictest market and capital standards.
What does Carnegie say about human competition and the accumulation of wealth?
What does Carnegie say about human competition and the accumulation of wealth? We can only bend it a little in a favorable direction, and the laws of individualism, private property, accumulation of wealth, and competition are the soil in which society so far has produced the best fruit.