“BOURGEOIS DIGNITY.”

“BOURGEOIS DIGNITY.” The title of Deirdre McCloskey’s new book gives her explanation for the enormous increase in income which created the modern world in just two words: BOURGEOIS DIGNITY. Why didn’t the other societies which in many cases had “high savings rates, lots of international trade, private property, education, science” create an Industrial Revolution before the 1700’s.? She says: “In other words, I am claiming,the antibourgeois character of world society before 1700, and in Europe, too, explains the lag.” Why did it happen when and where it did? She answers: “The trick was the invention of a business-admiring civilization.” I have posted from time to time on the persistence of antibusiness attitudes down to the present day, but my concern has primarily been with the social implications—the snobbery and prejudice—and with how surprising those attitudes are to Americans. Notice that Professor McCloskey is going a lot farther. She is arguing that acknowledging and valuing the bourgeois made an enormous difference to all of us.