Flaws In Capitalism In The Inspector Calls

In the play The Inspector Calls, Priestley successfully shows the flaws in capitalism by collective responsibility throughout the play.The word “ Capitalism “ Has connotations of a system controlled by private owners for money rather than state, The word “ Socialism” has connotations of a community which the production, distribution and money should be owned as a community or a whole.

The Book was written near the end of world war 2 and the play was acted out in 1946, during his life, Britain was run by Capitalist Rules and as a socialist, he thinks that society then was unfair, during the rule of the capitalists, working classes had no rights but women in rich families avoid this and live a life of luxury, for working women, they need to

work in order to make money and live in a decent house whilst women in upper or middle class do not need this as their husbands provide money as they are leaders of companies or working there, for some working class women, they had to rely on charity work or be homeless on the streets and mostly some risk their lives and go on to be prostitutes living on the streets.
To Priestley, he thought that Britain needed to be a equal country and have a equal amount of everything so everyone can be equal and reduce the amount of Women being without jobs, these views reflected on his book showing the advantages and disadvantages through the view of the Birling family and the way they show their views(Mr Birling and Mrs Birling being capitalists and Eric and Sheila Birling as Socialists, Gerald is a bit of both)

When we first encounter Mr Birling, he makes his very capitalist view very clear, “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”. He is also scathing about the emerging socialist thinking calling them ‘cranks’:

“But the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense.”
The word “cranks” has connotations of being obsessed to one thing and this shows that Mr Birling has a hatred for socialism and thinks that most of what people who are addicted to community are just rubbish,
The word” Nonsense” shows that everyone except capitalists just don't make sense.

The Birling women also reflect capitalist thinking. For example, Sheila uses her mother’s power in jealousy to fire Eva Smith from her job because of her anger of her mother dragging her around Milwards “Yes, but it didn't seem to be anything very terrible at the time”
The quote shows how Sheila does not care at that point but later realizes her mistake, Mrs Birling however shows that she does not care about Eva and in reply, she says”I wasn't satisfied with this girl’s claim, she seemed to me to be not a good case”, The phrase”she seemed to me to be not a good case” shows that Mrs Birling disagrees with a working class point of view as she has not experienced it(Sheila could been one but was lucky to live in this sort of luxury), this also supports when she says” I wasn’t satisfied with this girl’s case” When she talks about Eva, she says “this girl” not demanding respect for women in a lower class ( even though she does help women who need help, most of them are working class.)

Gerald and Eric, both sons of rich industrialists, each treat Eva the same way: someone to use and discard and have no social responsibility to protect or help even though they could have easily done so, again reflecting the flaws in a capitalist society.

First Gerald meets Eva or Daisy in a Pub and she was close to prostitution so Gerald ate with her and moved her into a set of housings his friend had(but he moved to Canada for 9 months), then Gerald had an affair with Daisy and then they broke up, Gerald giving Daisy money to live her on for the rest of her life, in Gerald’s story, he helps Daisy by giving her something to eat, giving her temporary housing that she doesn’t need to pay for and then later broke off after having an affair, The reason for the break-up was because of their class difference, This would be shocking for the reader as Gerald is a capitalist and helping a lower class socialist would be like a sin but he does say to the inspector” I didnt install her there so I could not make love for her, I installed her there because I felt sorry for her” before the quote it says(Carefully saying to the inspector), this implies that he does not want to say this to Shelia cause she might disapprove this. Eric does help Daisy by giving her money to live on until she can take any more, but because of his lust for girls, he raped her and made her pregnant and after told her that he didnt love her, If Gerald would have kept her longer and not have an affair, He would

have helped her from getting poor, if Eric didn’t rape her but like Gerald, gave her money(which isn’t stolen), he would have helped Daisy and not become a prostitute.

Eva, although absent on stage, is the focal point of the play, revealing all the failings of a capitalist society through her role as a victim.

At the start, she was fired form Mr Birling’s factory for asking for a payrise for all the workers, then she got fired from Milwards because of Sheila, then she changed her name and was close to prostitution but then met Gerald, after having an affair, Gerald broke up the relationship and she went, then Eric saw her and raped her, after she got pregnant and broke up, Then Daisy went to Mrs Birling and asked for help but Mrs Birling refused, this led to her suicide, during most of her life, she lived in lodgings and did not have a job, if she was living right now, the council would give her a temporary housing and jobseekers allowance to fund her until she has a job, if she was pregnant and had no help, the council would give her money for food and clothes, and for help, she would go to a community center and they would give her assistance right away and not reject, there are differences how people care for each other in 1912 and right now.

The Inspector is the lone voice in this play, reflecting Priestley’s socialist views and reminding each character of their moral and social responsibility. He challenges each characters deeply held belief and reveals how their selfish capitalist views have destroyed someone’s life

To conclude, I think Priestley has successfully shown the flaws of capitalism by using family members form a capitalist

family turn on them when agreeing to capitalist views.