Focus Questions - Set C

Wed. March 6: Industrial Revolution (link online)

1. About how many hours per week are the workers in the factory?

*2. Notice that all three authors discuss children. What can you learn about working class children from these readings?

3. Summarize in a sentence what Owen finds wrong with factories. Do the same for Kay.

4. Why does Ure think that factories are positively good for kids?

Fri. March 8: Liberalism and Reform (link online)

1. Summarize what Fielding's 10-Hour Act would do.

2. Hume argues that government regulation is wrong. Why?

*3. Macaulay contends that government has the general responsibility to do what?

4. Peel says limiting hours will harm working families in what way?

5. [In class] Be prepared to represent and defend any of these four positions in a debate. You may be called upon to do so.

Mon. March 11: Ideas of Progress (J. S. Mill link online)

*1. What matters most in human existence, according to Mill?

2. What hinders individual development?

3. How does individualism improve society?

Wed. March 13: Nationalism (Txt: 452-61)

1. Mazzini thinks that Europe has not solved its social problems, because it is stuck on a false ideal. Which idea is that?

*2. How does Mazzini connect the idea of national unity to religious faith?

3. How is Mazzini's idea of country similar to Rousseau's theory of government? [see p. 461]

Fri. March 15: Socialism (Txt: 511-19)

1. Marx says history consists of one thing, which is what?

2. Marx says the bourgeoisie (the middle classes) are the real revolutionaries. What revolutions have they accomplished?

*3. What is, historically speaking, the most important creation of the bourgeois industrial revolution? [see p. 518]

4. Marx says the bourgeoisie has created a new despotism. In what way are the workers "slaves" of the owners?

Mon. March 18: Science and Evolution (Txt: 547-57; 587; 589-92)

1. How did the overpopulation theory of Thomas Malthus help Darwin derive his theory of natural selection?

2. What evidence can you produce that if Darwin hadn't produced a theory of evolution, some else would have?

3. According to Darwin, how will science be changed by his theory?

4. Why does Darwin think the theory of evolution is good news for humanity?

Wed. March 20: Imperialism (Pearson/ Baden-Powell link online)

1. According to Karl Pearson, how does civilization evolve?

2. What is Pearson's position on the conflict between the classes?

*3. In Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell talks about many threats to Britain and its Empire.  Name two.

4. How are Indians portrayed in the Scouts' "Display"?