 |
| Staff |
| Oxford University website |
Advanced
Paper Synopsis
Child Labour in the industrial revolution: causes, consequences, cures
(Dr Jane Humphries, All Souls College)
|
The child worker stands pitifully at the heart of contemporary perceptions of the British industrial revolution. But modern economic historians have neglected her experiences and her contribution. To what extent and where did children work in early industrial Britain? Was their labour in the early mills and manufactories a continuation of their deployment in domestic manufacturing and in agriculture or did it represent a novel feature of the changing economy? How did child labour fit into the family economy of working people? Did parents as well as employers exploit children, or was child labour the best outcome for everyone including the children themselves? Did children's employment improve their status and social position and so enhance their command over household resources? What caused child labour to decline in the nineteenth century, shifts in technology, the Factory Acts, or compulsory schooling? Or was the withdrawal of children from the labour force the natural corollary of a rise in male wages and a demand for higher "quality" children? Answers to these questions will be sought using a variety of primary and secondary sources. Four different theoretical perspectives on child labour will be considered: first, the classic interpretation of child labour as a necessary evil offered by, for example, Mantoux; second, a Marxian interpretation with its focus on the organisation of production, absolute surplus value and exploitation; third, a Chicago School approach in which child labour was the best feasible option as proposed by Nardinelli (sitting at the feet of Becker); and, finally, a modern neo-classical approach informed by the complexity and intransigence of child labour in the Third World. The difficulties involved in measuring child labour will be discussed. The defects of the early censuses and the absence of national counts for much of the era of the industrial revolution will be seen as prompting the use of less traditional approaches. More qualitative source material will be used to explore the meaning of child labour, how the children involved understood it, and how it fit into the family economy. Child labour will also be set in the more general context of attitudes to and treatment of children, prompting some discussion of infanticide, child abandonment and child abuse. One novel feature of the course will be to break away from the exclusive focus on children in families to confront the historical importance of children in the care of the state. Such children will be shown to be in the vanguard of the child labour force. Child wellbeing will be discussed with the help of anthropmetric evidence on heights and mortality. Students will be encouraged to think of child labour in historical perspective and to read some material on child labour today. Participants will be expected to take some responsibility for preparing material and presenting it for discussion. Additional references will be made available to students on topics of particular interest and for purposes of writing essays. There will be a course organisation meeting in 8th week to discuss the timing and structure of the course. Please email Jane Humphries at jane.humphries@all-souls.ox.ac.uk to be notified about this meeting. The material will be organised into topics as follows:
|
