SOURCE: Thomas, Gillian. “Martineau as a Fiction Writer.” In Harriet Martineau, pp. 87-116. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.

In the following excerpt, Thomas analyzes Martineau's fiction.

Illustrations of Political Economy

The utilitarian philosophy which offered the “greatest happiness of the greatest number” as the ultimate social goal attempted to provide a remedy for all social ills through the doctrine of “political economy.” Most notably, Adam Smith's Inquiry Concerning the Wealth of Nations (1776) provided an economic counterpart to the utilitarian theories of Jeremy Bentham by arguing for free trade and maximum freedom of economic competition as the economic means by which the greatest happiness of the greatest number could be achieved. Although Smith greatly influenced the formative ideas of philosophers like John Stuart Mill and middle-class intellectuals like Martineau, the “principles of political economy,” widely thought of by utilitarian adherents as a “science,” were largely unknown beyond the middle class.

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