Social Problems
Henry George's accessible 1883 follow-up to Progress and Poverty, expanding the social and political implications of land monopoly for a popular audience.
Summary
Social Problems (1883) is Henry George's shorter, more accessible sequel to Progress and Poverty. Written for a popular audience and originally serialised, it applies George's land-and-rent analysis to the concrete social and political ills of the Gilded Age.
Themes
George argues that the concentration of wealth, the corruption of democratic politics, urban squalor, and the displacement of workers by machinery all trace back to the same root: private monopolisation of land and the resulting capture of the unearned increment. He warns that material progress without addressing land monopoly breeds inequality and threatens republican government itself. The book is often recommended as a gentler entry point to George's thought than the more rigorous Progress and Poverty.
Significance
Social Problems broadened George's readership and influence, framing the single tax not just as an economic fix but as a defense of democracy and social cohesion. It directly influenced reformers such as Tom L. Johnson.
See Also
Sources
- Henry George (1883), Social Problems. Full text via the Henry George Institute. henrygeorge.org
- Authoritative editions from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.