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Why Did German Early Industrial Capitalists Suggest Workers’ Pensions, Arbitration Boards and Minimum Wages?

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  • Reckendrees Alfred

    (Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Politics, and Philosophy, Center for Business History, Porcelænshaven 18A, 2000Frederiksberg, Denmark)

Abstract

Today at the beginning of the 21st century, there is a debate across Europe about how much welfare society should provide, and how much private insurance is possible. Two hundred years ago, in the formative period of industrial capitalism, social problems had long been left to private initiative. Commodification of labour and its concentration in large factories, however, created demand for social protection beyond the limited shelter provided by charity. Representatives of industry in Aachen suggested compulsory factory rules granting rights to workers, compulsory workers’ pension funds, minimum wages and maximum working hours. The article argues that the industrialists’ aim was to stabilize the social order of industrial capitalism by using ideas of social partnership. Labour should not just be pacified, but reconciled with capitalist society. While interpreting social policy as a capitalist aim, the article aims to contribute to the discussion about the origins of the welfare state.

Suggested Citation

  • Reckendrees Alfred, 2020. "Why Did German Early Industrial Capitalists Suggest Workers’ Pensions, Arbitration Boards and Minimum Wages?," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 61(2), pages 351-376, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:jbwige:v:61:y:2020:i:2:p:351-376:n:4
    DOI: 10.1515/jbwg-2020-0015
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    Keywords

    welfare state; industrial relations; social policy; arbitration boards; early industrialization; Wohlfahrtsstaat; Arbeitsbeziehungen; Sozialpolitik; Schiedsstellen; Frühindustrialisierung;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History
    • N - Economic History
    • D - Microeconomics
    • D - Microeconomics
    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare

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