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The term social question denotes the opposition between capital and labour (also described as the gap between rich and poor).

Social question in the nineteenth century

The term social question refers to the social grievances that accompanied the Industrial Revolution and the following population explosion, that is, the social problems accompanying and resulting from the transition from an agrarian to an urbanising industrial society. In England, the beginning of this transition was to be noted from about 1760, in Germany from the early 19th century. It was characterized by a rapidly growing population that created a wage-earning proletariat, peasant liberation, rural exodus and urbanisation, the decline of the old trades and a gradual emergence of the factory industry.

The term was used in Germany by the 1840s, "soziale Frage" as well as in France "question sociale" and in the Netherlands as the "sociale vraagstuk."

The core problems of the social question were pauperism and the existential insecurity of peasants, rural servants, artisans, laborers, and small clerks. These problems led to strikes and even riots.

Over time, the problem shifted. Between about the 1850s and the 1870s, industry experienced a strong upswing, while the decline of cottage industries and the crisis of the crafts continued. A third phase in Germany, beginning around 1870, was marked by high industrialization and the transition to an industrial society. The social question now became primarily a workers' question. Mass migration from the countryside to the urban industrial centers, phenomena accompanying the formation of large cities and the social integration of the industrial workforce preoccupied political leaders as well as the bourgeois public. Depending on the perception of the problem and the interests at stake, different approaches to the social question were developed.

Consequences

The social question resulted in riots, strikes and the foundation of unions and parties. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto trying to give an answer to the problems resulting from the industrialisation. The German Kaiserreich developed social laws, such as a public health insurance, pension system and an unemployment insurance to share social safety with their populations and avoiding socialist revolutions. Being able to produce large amounts of goods on the one hand and creating wealth for a limited group of people while some groups remain poor in a materialistic or intellectual way on the other hand is still an important economic and philosophic challenge to solve.

Social question in the 20th century

In 1991, Pope John Paul II pointed out in the encyclical Centesimus annus, that „it is still possible today, as in the days of Rerum novarum, to speak of inhuman exploitation.“

Social Question in the Twenty-First Century

In 2013, Pope Francis wrote in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium this here:

The European Union is focused on obtaining social rights to defuse the social question.

The United States is focused on reducing social rights to exacerbate the social question.

See also

• Rerum Novarum
• Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler
• Adolph Kolping
• Johann Hinrich Wichern
• Gustav von Schmoller
• Centesimus annus
• Evangelii gaudium

References

1. Capital and Labour (Punch Magazine, Mai 1843)
2. Faist, T. (2021): The Transnationalized Social Question: Migration and Social Inequalities - Abstract in english
3. Thomas Piketty (2015): The Economics of Inequality, page 27
4. Frank E. W. Zschaler: Die soziale Frage des 19. Jahrhunderts in deutscher und europäischer Perspektive. In: Habisch, André ; Küsters, Hanns Jürgen ; Uertz, Rudolf (Hrsg): Tradition und Erneuerung der christlichen Sozialethik in Zeiten der Modernisierung. - Freiburg im Breisgau : Herder, 2012. -- page 102: social question denotes the opposition between capital and labour, page 100: the conflict between capital and labor)
5. Jähnichen, Traugott (2011-04-01), "Social Question", Religion Past and Present, Brill, retrieved 2023-04-21
6. Ritter, Gerhard A. (2013-11-11). Soziale Frage und Sozialpolitik in Deutschland seit Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts (in German). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-663-11398-0.
7. "Abraham Kuyper. Het sociale vraagstuk en de christelijke religie. Rede bij de opening van het Sociaal Congres, op 9 November 1891 gehouden". sources.neocalvinism.org. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
8. "2 Devon's Classic Food Riots", Riots and Community Politics in England and Wales, 1790–1810, Harvard University Press, 2013-10-01, pp. 27–68, doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674733251.c3, ISBN 978-0-674-73325-1, retrieved 2023-04-23
9. Case, Holly (2016). "THE "SOCIAL QUESTION," 1820–1920*". Modern Intellectual History. 13 (3): 747–775. doi:10.1017/S1479244315000037. ISSN 1479-2443. S2CID 143077444.
10. Marx, Karl (2016). COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. Friedrich Engels (CHIRON ACADEMIC PRESS - THEORIGINAL AUTHORITATIVE ed.). : CHIRON ACADEMIC Press. ISBN 978-91-7637-150-3. OCLC 1076663420.
11. van Meerhaeghe, Marcel (2006-01-01). Backhaus, Jürgen (ed.). "Bismarck and the social question". Journal of Economic Studies. 33 (4): 284–301. doi:10.1108/01443580610688448. ISSN 0144-3585.
12. Direct quote from Centesimus annus
13. Direct quote from: Evangelii gaudium
14. "Exchange of views with Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights | Highlights | Home | EMPL | Committees | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
15. "World Report 2024 United States Events of 2023". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
16. "The Trump Administration's Plan to Strip Citizenship from Thousands of Americans" (PDF). Retrieved 20 November 2024.
17. Guzman, Gloria; Kollar, Melissa. "Income in the United States: 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 20 November 2024.

• Industrial Revolution
• History of sociology
• 18th century in England
• 19th century in England
• 19th century in Germany
• 19th century in France
• Social inequality
• Social issues