Introduction
History has demonstrated that human society has undergone tremendous changes and advances – it is not likely that the progress would stop. Adam Smith, the seventeenth-century Scottish ‘father of modern political economics and the author of Wealth of Nations, outlines the concept of the economic and political status of contemporary society. He considered social aspects of economic development, such as labor: its division, value, and cost in society. He also viewed the use and origin of money taking into account the pricing of commodities. The need for revenue to cater to the commonwealth needs is also looked into.
Adam Smith and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views comparison
He also analyzed the political systems that have been developed to run various countries and colonies; he claims about numerous restrictions existing in the trade sector of the world economies. The development of affluence among members of a society is one of the topics discussed by Adam Smith. Economic progress leads to a need to develop dominance over the less privileged in terms of skills or money by the more privileged. Smith, through his writings and concepts, explains functionalities of human society by outlining the vices of modernity and economic development Smith through his writings and concepts helps to bring an understanding of the human society while outlining vices of modernity and economic development; his concepts of the economic wealth of society resemble the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau introduced to explain the origin and inequality of people.
The Wealth of Nations touches on the nature of the state and components essential for its normal maintenance. Smith considers aspects of social life that contribute greatly to the wealth and operation of all divisions and subdivisions existing in the state, state machine, or economic and social spheres. It is necessary to consider the ideas on a state introduced by Adam Smith with a view to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s concepts presented in his books Discourse on the Origin on Inequality and The Social Contract.
The first chapter of the first book focuses on the division of labor where the author introduces the idea that the labor, to be more exact, different branches of labor should be maintained by different people who would specialize in definite spheres. As the author claims, in every improved society, the farmer is generally nothing but a farmer; the manufacturer, nothing but a manufacturer. The labor, too, which is necessary to produce any one complete manufacture, is almost always divided among a great number of hands. (Smith 3)
This idea seems to resemble the one introduced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his work The Social Contract which describes sovereignty and division of political powers. Rousseau had analyzed the experience of the human race and established his theory about the development of the human spirit and a state which is the cage for all humans because “man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” (“The Social Contract” 49); this state of human nature contradicts the concept of state. In this book, the French philosopher implies the division of the government and powers in the government to establish the best way of governing. Smith argues about the division of labor, improvements, and progress of those societies which would maintain different labor operations within different workhouses and that a developed state can be characterized by a system of labor that is divided into separate sectors. This thought can be ascribed to both authors, though they use the concept of division to govern different spheres of state and economy.
According to Smith, the lack of progress among society leads to the suffering of society. The human race needs to be developed for the sustainability of developing societies. He argues about the development of commercial and economic society and insists on the idea that it leads to the existence of a social structure which is further divided into three classes – landowners, capitalists, and laborers; “the capital employed in manufactures puts into motion the greatest quantity of productive labor, and adds the greatest value to the annual produce. That which is employed in the trade of exportation has the least effect of any of the three” (Smith 150). This is considered to be as discussed by smith the three great constituents that exist in every single civilized society. Smith attempts to establish the ideal society where people would be their bosses or would work on terms appropriate for their operation.
This idea established by Smith is similarly written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Discourse on the Origin on Inequality where he stated that “beginning by giving the strong authority over the weak, proceeded directly to the birth of government, without regard to the time that must have elapsed before the meaning of the words authority and government could have existed among men” (“Discourse” 23). Though Smith develops his ideas within the systemic development of the market economy as he is one of the most economically directed thinkers, Rousseau’s ideas are just the same except the sphere of usage because he incorporates moral inequality among men in a definite society.
Smith’s Wealth of Nations theorizes on cities, agriculture, and the progress of opulence in agriculture and manufacturing. It is necessary to mention that the most productive way of maintenance of towns is that the inhabitants should give part of their income to operate the town; “[t]he inhabitants of the town, and those of the country, are mutually servants of one another. The town is a continual fair or market, to which the inhabitants of the country resort, to exchange their rude for manufactured produce” (Smith 156). In this respect, the town is a concept that unites people and benefits from their exchanges and activities.
Though Smith argues about agriculture, manufactures, and other activities of the town’s inhabitants, it is possible to find a similar idea in the works presented by the French thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality introduces the idea that men are natural creatures and that “[t]he product of the earth furnished him with all he needed, and instinct told him how to use it” (Rousseau, “Discourse” 62). It means that both authors thought about the importance of the agricultural industry, though Smith shaped his thoughts in a more effective way that could be used while developing the system of agriculture to make everything appropriately.
Adam Smith suggested that the distribution of finance should be made according to the prevalence of spheres, and as the agricultural sector was one of the most important directions to be established and developed, it was the primary goal for investments that were completed with the help of inhabitants and their contributions as well as Rousseau argued about the importance of the land to men in the natural state. As stated by Smith, “[a]ccording to the natural course of things, therefore, the greater part of the capital of every growing society is, first, directed to agriculture, afterward to manufacturers, and, last of all, to foreign commerce” (Smith 157). It means that the economical distribution of the contemporary time set agriculture as the primary sector.
The fourth book from the major work by Adam Smith describes the basic principles of the political economy. “A country that has no mines of its own must undoubtedly draw its gold and silver from foreign countries, in the same as one that has no vineyards of its own must draw its wines” (Smith 175). It can be considered as one of the essential principles of mutual dependence and the importance of cooperation between both people and countries. This idea can be found in the work The Social Contract written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The French philosopher introduced the idea of the importance of cooperation between people as a part of the theory about the origins and inequality of all men, to be more exact, in the part about moral or political inequality of men. “The passing from the state of nature to the society produces a remarkable change in man; it puts justice as a rule of conduct in the place of instinct, and gives his actions the moral quality they previously lacked.” (“The Social Contract” 64) According to Rousseau, society is a source of human wisdom and knowledge; society made a man a social creature that acts on principles other than an instinct of preservation or other natural impulses.
The theories about different impacts of society on people can be opposed as well as compared; Rousseau insists that “man losses by the social contract… his natural liberty” (“The Social Contract” 65). Considering the ideas established by Adam Smith, people can live happily in a society that would guarantee some liberties to its members as well as would require the operation of definite duties essential for its maintenance.
The basic idea which can be traced throughout the fifth book of the Wealth of Nations is about the importance of defense. This can be considered one of the most important features of the developed society that attempts to progress and improve its operation. “The first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, can be performed only using military force” (Smith 289). As one of the main purposes of the society is to establish some military force that would guarantee basic rights and freedoms to the members of this society and protect it from dangers of the outer world; the society must pay taxes to make the defense more reliable and more effective.
The Social Contract written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggests the idea that a man, an independent man who become a part of the independent society loses his natural liberty, though acquires some useful elements instead; “civil liberty and the legal right of property in what he possesses” (“The Social Contract” 65). It is natural for men to loan for freedom and a natural state of being, though some principles of living suggested by the independent society cannot be neglected or refuted. These principles are aimed at making society a comfortable setting for people.
Every society can be considered a good and comfortable setting for its people; it is established for people to live in appropriate conditions for trade, manufacture, and agriculture. The current work discussed the theories on societies and the impact of the society on its members by two great thinkers, Adam Smith and his work Wealth of Nations, and two works written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origin on Inequality.
It is worth mentioning that the ideas introduced by Smith can be opposed to those presented by Rousseau because the latter used his theory to explain the origin of a man and his growth and changes within society, his views can be considered essential for the understanding of the basic principles of inequality in the society, between its members and the origin of moral or political inequality.
Conclusion
The views of Adam Smith differ from those presented by Rousseau because he uses the same principles to explain the operation of society from the political, social, and economic points of view. It is necessary to mention that principles, suchlike rights, liberties, property, can be traced in the works by both authors. To conclude, the most essential is the idea about the importance of the society which can both guarantee independence and the freedom from invasions and require the taxation and some costs for the operation of the towns and its infrastructure.
Works Cited
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. New York: Penguin Classics, 1968.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. On the Origin of Inequality. New York: Cosimo, Inc., 2005.
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Harvard University Press, 2005.