Poetry, Faith and Chivalry: Alfred Marshall’s Response to Modern Socialism

Simon Cook

History of Economics Review, 2008, vol. 47, issue 1, 20-38

Abstract: After his return to Cambridge in 1885 Alfred Marshall constructed an elaborate criticism of modern socialism and developed an alternative creed of economic chivalry. This paper interprets both of these intellectual developments in the light of Marshall’s early philosophical model of human character. In the first instance, such an interpretation reveals the modern economist as an ideal type possessed of both a warm heart and a cool head. This contrasts with an earlier generation of economists, who reasoned clearly but without heartfelt sympathy, and the modern socialists, who sacrifice scientific reasoning to generous but impetuous sentiment. It is also emphasised that Marshall’s early model of character included a spiritual component in addition to a mechanical analysis of both reason and sympathy. In his mature reflections on socialism and chivalry this spiritual component translated into a ‘faith’ in social progress founded upon free competition and giving rise to a chivalrous ethos of self-sacrifice among public servants and members of the co-operative movement. But Marshall also developed a weaker form of chivalry, in which businessmen were to be motivated, not by the spirit of altruism, but by striving for sympathetic approval and an emotive desire to emulate honourable actions.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1080/18386318.2008.11682118

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