John Millar, An Historical View of the English Government: From the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Revolution of 1688 (Natural Law and
Enlightenment Classics), edited by Mark
Salber Phillips & Dale R. Smith, Introduction by Mark Salber Phillips
(Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2006).
John Millar, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks: Or, An Inquiry into the Circumstances Which Give Rise to Influence and Authority, in the Different Members of Society (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics), edited with an Introduction by Aaron Garrett (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2006) (From the book jacket: "First published in 1771, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks is John Millar's examination of the nature of authority and how and why it changes. Drawing on Adam Smith's four-stages theory of history and the natural law's's traditional division of domestic duties into those toward servants, children and women, Millar provides a rich historical analysis of he ways in which progressive economic change transforms the nature of authority. In particular he argues that, with the progress of arts and manufacture, authority tends to become less violent and concentrated and ranks tend to diversify. Millar's analysis of this historical process is nuanced and sophisticated, and his discussion of servitude is possibly the most well developed of the 'economic' arguments against slavery. Editor Aaron Garrett notes that this work is 'perhaps the most precise and compact development of the abiding themes of the liberal wing of the Scottish Enlightenment." Query: What would Millar have to say about authority in societies where (a) manufacturing is shrinking as a percentage of the economy, (b) where finance and/or corporate capitalism are on the rise, and where the top one percent possess most of the wealth? Note: Editor Garrett is using "liberal" in its classical sense, not in the vulgar contemporary American sense.).
