The Social Problem – Life and Work

First published in 1901, “The Social Problem – Life and Work” is a fascinating treatise by John Atkinson Hobson on the subject of society and social progress. The book is split into two parts, one dealing with the science of social progress, the other with the art of social progress. John Atkinson Hobson (1858 – 1940) was an English social scientist and economist most famous for his work on imperialism-which notably had an influence on Vladimir Lenin-as well as his theory of underconsumption. His early work also questioned the classical theory of rent and predicted the Neoclassical “marginal productivity” theory of distribution. Contents include: “Is there a Social Question”, “Waste in Work and Life”, “The Old Political Economy”, “The New Political Economy”, “Requisites of a Science of Wealth-Deposition of the Money Standard”, “The Translation from ‘Is’ to ‘Ought’”, “The Quantitative Methods in Social Science”, “Necessaries and Luxuries”, “The Rights of Man”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with Hobson’s essay “Political Bases of a World-State”.