{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/64593"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/64593","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Piercy Ravenstone: a study in nineteenth century radical economics","abstract":"Between 1820 and 1840, there arose in England a small school of economic thought, intensely anti-capitalistic, known as the Ricardian socialists. Their basic idea was the laborers' right to their whole product. One somewhat obscure member of this group was Piercy Ravenstone who wrote A Few Doubts on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy in 1821 and Thoughts on the Funding System and Its Effects in 1824. In this thesis, I have put forth Ravenstone's system in detail by thoroughly examining both of his works. His basic approach is to demolish the Malthusian population theory, putting in its place a theory which shows that exploitation through rent, taxes and profit is the cause of worker misery. Before examining Ravenstone's work, I have described the historical events which led to early socialist ideology and have given a general overview of Ricardian socialism and its connection with the more classical economics. Profiles of the 2 more well-known members of the school are given and thoughts of Karl Marx on the work of these men are briefly discussed. The conclusion reached is that Ravenstone was not a true socialist but rather was somewhat right-wing. Although he shared many socialist criticisms of capitalist society, he espoused a society of individual workers in both manufacturing and agriculture rather than Owenist establishments or communism.","abstract_html":"Between 1820 and 1840, there arose in England a small school of economic thought, intensely anti-capitalistic, known as the Ricardian socialists. Their basic idea was the laborers' right to their whole product. One somewhat obscure member of this group was Piercy Ravenstone who wrote A Few Doubts on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy in 1821 and Thoughts on the Funding System and Its Effects in 1824. In this thesis, I have put forth Ravenstone's system in detail by thoroughly examining both of his works. His basic approach is to demolish the Malthusian population theory, putting in its place a theory which shows that exploitation through rent, taxes and profit is the cause of worker misery. Before examining Ravenstone's work, I have described the historical events which led to early socialist ideology and have given a general overview of Ricardian socialism and its connection with the more classical economics. Profiles of the 2 more well-known members of the school are given and thoughts of Karl Marx on the work of these men are briefly discussed. The conclusion reached is that Ravenstone was not a true socialist but rather was somewhat right-wing. Although he shared many socialist criticisms of capitalist society, he espoused a society of individual workers in both manufacturing and agriculture rather than Owenist establishments or communism.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Miles, John Jeffries"],"institution":"Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Economics","degree_department":"Economics","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1970,"date_issued":"1970","date_published":"1970","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:35Z","subjects":["Ravenstone, Piercy"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64593","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Miles, John Jeffries"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-02-01T14:44:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-02-01T14:44:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1970"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Ravenstone, Piercy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64593"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Between 1820 and 1840, there arose in England a small school of economic thought, intensely anti-capitalistic, known as the Ricardian socialists. 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The conclusion reached is that Ravenstone was not a true socialist but rather was somewhat right-wing. Although he shared many socialist criticisms of capitalist society, he espoused a society of individual workers in both manufacturing and agriculture rather than Owenist establishments or communism."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Piercy Ravenstone: a study in nineteenth century radical economics"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.department":["Economics"],"dc:creator":["Miles, John Jeffries"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-02-01T14:44:59Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-02-01T14:44:59Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1970"],"dc:description.abstract":["Between 1820 and 1840, there arose in England a small school of economic thought, intensely anti-capitalistic, known as the Ricardian socialists. 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The conclusion reached is that Ravenstone was not a true socialist but rather was somewhat right-wing. 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