ABSTRACT
Although Adam Smith made many references to classical sources, it is argued here that his vision is, ultimately, a modern, sociological one. Discarding any interest in classical virtue themes, he turned his attention to the social-scientific study of social change and the intricate dynamics of mass commercial society as seen through an economic lens. Identifying an economic concept – the division of labour – as the key causal change factor, Smith devised a distinctly sociological account of the positively disruptive role of specialization in breaking down archaic social structures and bringing about the new ‘strangership’ of mass commercial societies. Drawing comparisons with Adam Ferguson’s more pessimistic, classically inspired discourse on the same topic, this chapter explores why Smith did not perceive specialization as a threat to either social cohesion, virtue, or liberty. Rather, it is welcomed because it is the pathway to exponential progress in every aspect of human life including superior and distinctly modern forms of independence and interdependence. Smith acutely observes the subtle social physics of a society that is becoming more specialized and impersonal and therefore more secure, prosperous, moderate, dispassionate, pacific, amicable, and orderly. In this new and specialized age, self-governing and modular strangers readily interact in mutually enabling ways without fear or suspicion. Smith’s famous night-watchman state is the natural corollary of this modern way of relating, while the classical ideal of a civically virtuous citizenry is displaced by a more practical one: the marketplace of politically quiescent, commercially virtuous, independent, and industrious producers.
