Summary Of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward

In his book Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy gives us some insight into how his contemporaries viewed the world. He writes about the poverty, inequality and corruption of his age, while at the same time lauding the industrial innovations corporations had made. In response to the social strife and uncertainty of his time, he presents social change as peaceful.
The United States of Bellamy’s time was a nation of great inequality, both materially and politically. Extensive industrialization had led to extreme accumulations and concentrations of wealth for a few, while the majority remained in poverty. The economies of scale had enriched some, while dispossessing others. This extreme wealth had openly corrupted the political system. The public

concern over these issues is reflected in Bellamy’s work. He begins his story with an analogy, to which many of his peers could relate, of society as a great coach, cruelly driven by the rich and dragged by the striving poor (Bellamy 4). Bellamy’s future society had been reorganized to ensure the equitable distribution of resources and services. (Bellamy 42). Instead of individuals enriching themselves at the expense of others, emphasis was placed on resources being used for the public, rather than the private good (Bellamy 77). This dichotomy between individuality and mutual cooperation is a reflection of the concerns of society at the end of the 1800s. With material equality not only did poverty end, but also crime and corruption (Bellamy 98). No longer could robber barons influence the Millionaires’ Club.
While people saw great problems arising from the new industrial corporate power structure of the late 1800s, few could deny its efficiencies.

There was a trend for industries to consolidate; many were integrating horizontally and vertically. Standardization of times, measures and even staff positions made interlocking pieces of different businesses fit together smoothly. In Bellamy’s future, these trends are embraced. Instead of rejecting the corporate model for causing society’s inequalities, Bellamy wanted society to reap the benefits of its efficiencies and technologies. The eventual consolidation of corporations into a single unit, the “Great Trust,” allowed it to do away with the wastes and redundancies of competition (Bellamy 27). With supply more in line with demand, there was no over- or under-production of goods and, consequently, steady employment for all (Bellamy 115). Efficiencies and the economies of scale allowed the state to increase industrial production and the standard of living (Bellamy 111). New technologies of Bellamy’s time that were making corporations so successful, like telephones and steam-powered engines, were to be used for the good of the everyone (Bellamy 54). Corporate changes in employment structure, like middle management, were emulated with people as interchangeable, interlocking pieces, working like a machine (Bellamy

118).
Due to social unrest of the period, Bellamy went to pains to portray the coming revolution to be as inevitable as it was peaceful (Bellamy 138). Aligning with Darwin’s ideas, Bellamy’s revolution was an inevitable consequence of social evolution (Bellamy 27). He also assured his readers that destructive, murderous anarchists were not a part of the revolution; he even goes so far as to say that they were funded by counterrevolutionaries (Bellamy 122). Bellamy’s revolution was presented as smooth and unthreatening so as not to alienate any of his readers.