This project relates the theme of material consumption in novels of the long eighteenth century to the development of the novel genre. Functioning as more than just a reflection of societal concerns, novels shape perceptions of consumption, which in turn inform our understanding of the novel’s development. These perceptions are informed and complicated by a variety of issues presented in eighteenth-century novels including form, nation and national identity, sexuality, labour, commerce, credit and debt, and, in particular, gender. Chapter one looks at Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones and the use of consumption imagery and metaphors as a way of playing with form and genre adaptation; the novel’s awareness of its own status as consumable commodity relates to the metaphoric and physical consumption within the novel’s plot, establishing a relationship between the problematic generic status of Tom Jones and the theme of physical consumption. Through Tobias Smollett’s The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, chapter two examines eighteenth-century concerns regarding women’s consumption through the largely neglected figure of Tabitha Bramble and her reclamation of the corrupting influence of the foreign through her marriage to Lismahago. More than just a critique of the effects of foreign luxury on British society, I argue that Humphry Clinker makes room for the produce of empire through the union of Tabitha and Lismahago. Chapter three analyses Frances Burney’s novel Camilla in relation to its treatment of the commodifying effects of commerce, particularly shopping; drawing parallels between the experience of shopping in the eighteenth century and the marriage market, specifically as relates to the male gaze, the chapter argues that there is a connection between the novel as commodity, created by Burney in order to create profit, and the commodification of Camilla through the male gaze. Chapter four discusses the ways in which Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent, Ennui, and The Absentee utilise Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations as a roadmap for Irish economic and social development but argues that this is problematised through the absence of politics in Smith, which inadvertently complicates Edgeworth’s message of economic

This study represents an interpretation of Adam Smith's attitude toward a commercial society based upon natural liberty. In developing the thesis that the two works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, are logically consistent, it is necessary to establish the reason of reasons why Adam Smith embraced a commercial society based upon the "obvious and simple system of natural liberty." It will be established that he embraced such as system because it allowed the maximum accumulation of capital, which is the manifestation of being truly virtuous as developed in his Moral Sentiments. To go one step further, it will be seen that, so far as Smith is concerned, it is the rising bourgeoisie, the manufacturers and artificers, which is truly virtuous, i.e., accumulates capital.

This dissertation tests the theories put forth by Mr. E.P. Thompson (The Making of the English Working Class) where he points to 18th century hunger riots as examples of incipient class formation. Using untapped local source documents, the dissertation examines the hunger riots of 1766 one by one and also in regional contexts. The dissertation concludes that issues of class have very little to do with explaining the origins of the hunger riots. Instead, what was involved was an unexpected European-wide failure of the wheat crop following an unusual weather pattern which interrupted the westerly movement of weather masses. The sudden demand for wheat was picked up by English corn merchants and they quickly acted to export large amounts of wheat to reap windfall profits. The English river and canal system, the turnpike roads and the English coastline made rapid export both possible and expedient. Large populations of rural textile workers in East Anglia, the Upper Thames Valley and the West Country were faced with vanishing supplies of bread which they relied upon. The crowds made use of common law concepts and Tudor statutes restricting sale and resale of wheat and establishing the “assize of bread”. The functioning of the central government is closely examined. The episode caught the establishment entirely off guard. Troops were sent, the riots were quashed, the rioters were quickly tried and either hung, deported to North America or merely chastised. The riots show how the industrialization of Britain led to wholly unexpected events and social situations. E.P. Thompson’s thesis was not directly supported by the evidence adduced in this study. In 1776 Adam Smith used the hunger riots of 1766 to show how the private act of hoarding grain for profitable resale could serve the public purpose of avoiding dearth and starvation. The hunger riots of 1766 are therefore what might justly be deemed the “proximate cause” of the free market economy

Deux cent cinquante ans après la publication de la Théorie des sentiments moraux, quelle place accorde-t-on à la philosophie morale dans l'oeuvre d'Adam Smith? Le présent mémoire porte sur cette question et, en particulier, le débat que suscite le Das Adam Smith Problem. Afin de dresser un portrait de l'état actuel du débat, nous analysons une sélection de livres et d'articles ayant été publiés sur le sujet au cours de la période 2002-2008, qui précède le 250e anniversaire de la publication de la Théorie des sentiments moraux (1759-2009). Le chapitre l propose, en guise d'entrée en matière, une section consacrée au Siècle des Lumières en Écosse. Nous présentons ensuite les événements marquants de la vie de Smith ainsi que les principaux penseurs ayant influencé son oeuvre, notamment Francis Hutcheson, David Hume et les stoïciens. Le chapitre suivant est centré sur les thèses principales énoncées dans la Théorie et La Richesse des nations. Nous entendons mettre en évidence les diverses idées formulées par Smith dans ces oeuvres, qui sont susceptibles d'éclairer sa philosophie morale. Une fois jetées ces bases, nous abordons au chapitre III le sujet précis du Problème, d'abord en faisant un survol historique au cours duquel nous retraçons les origines du débat et présentons les auteurs importants y ayant contribué aux XIXe et au XXe siècle. Pour ce faire, nous nous référons aux analyses incontournables de la question, notamment « The Consistency of Adam Smith » (Oncken, 1897) et « Adam Smith and Laissez Faire » (Viner, 1927). Nous démontrons que le débat concernant la cohésion entre les deux oeuvres majeures de Smith est bien vivant au XXle siècle et que les avis vont généralement dans le même sens. En effet, la majorité des interprètes actuels de la pensée de Smith ne croient pas que les deux oeuvres divergent sensiblement. Cela constitue toutefois un des seuls points communs de ces auteurs. Leurs textes concernant le Problème prennent appui sur des analyses distinctes qui ont marqué le débat depuis deux cents ans. Suivant l'analyse de Leonidas Montes (2003), qui établit trois phases caractérisant le débat entourant le Problème depuis le bicentenaire de la Richesse en 1976, nous mettons en avant l'idée selon laquelle le débat comporterait une quatrième phase. Celle-ci se caractérise par le fait que les auteurs de la période 2002-2008 proposent une vision renouvelée de ces théories classiques.

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Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul / The present dissertation - through bibliographical research grounded mainly in the reading of the Theory of Moral Sentiments and of the Wealth of Nations - investigates the connection between Smith's moral philosophy and his approach regarding to the human principles that govern individual pursuit for improving own life condition. For achieve this goal are analyzed some of the Philosophical bases of the author (Stoics, Hutcheson, Hume) and studied the key concepts present in his two books in order to defend the viewpoint of that the Wealth of Nations is a continuity of the Theory of Moral Sentiments. From among the main lessons learned, from the study of the work of Adam Smith, are of which he cultivated, in his personal life, the qualities that in the TMS he considered defining of an excellent character: sobriety, temperance, fairness and magnanimity; which was through of the concepts of sympathy and the impartial spectator, created and developed in the TMS, that Smith created the concept of the prudent man, to which characterizes the majority of people who live in society; that the prudent man of Adam Smith is much different than homo economicus neoclassic; and, mainly, that the Smithian view of self-love is impregnated of moral connotations, once which goes far beyond mere self-interest for material wealth. / A presente dissertação - por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica fundamentada principalmente na leitura da Teoria dos Sentimentos Morais e na Riqueza das Nações - investiga a conexão entre a filosofia moral de Smith e a sua abordagem em relação aos princípios humanos que norteiam a busca individual por melhorar a própria condição de vida. Para alcançar este objetivo são analisadas algumas das bases Filosóficas do autor (estoicos, Hutcheson, Hume) e estudados os conceitos chaves presentes em seus dois livros de modo a defender o ponto de vista de que a Riqueza das Nações é uma continuidade da Teoria dos Sentimentos Morais. Dentre as principais lições aprendidas, a partir do estudo da obra de Adam Smith, está a de que ele cultivou, em sua vida pessoal, as qualidades que na TSM ele considerava definidoras de um caráter excelente: sobriedade, temperança, justeza e magnanimidade; que foi através dos conceitos de simpatia e espectador imparcial, criados e desenvolvidos na TSM, que Smith criou o conceito do homem prudente, o qual caracteriza a maioria das pessoas que vivem em sociedade; que o homem prudente de Adam Smith é muito diferente do homo economicus neoclássico; e, principalmente, que a visão smithiana de selflove está impregnada de conotações morais, uma vez que vai muito além do mero auto interesse por riquezas materiais.