Abstract:

This paper contains (1) an outlined portrait of Henry Ford, warts and all, (2) a summary of his ‘humane capitalism’, the importance of which has been largely forgotten nowadays, and (3) a suggestion of its relevance to today’s economic problems. Ford’s importance as a humanist becomes obvious when his view of capitalism is compared with that of his predecessor, Andrew Carnegie. Ford reacted implicitly against Carnegie’s draconian capitalism in which poverty was seen as an unavoidable necessity. In Carnegie’s view, wages could be lowered at an employer’s whim. Ford overturned that view and made increasing wage levels the norm not the exception. He was in fact directly responsible for the development of the consumer society during the twentieth century.

Author: Alistair J. Sinclair