ABSTRACT
The dissemination of political economy in Ireland during the nineteenth century was not entrusted solely to the formal institutions of higher education such as the universities. By the early 1830s, when Whately arrived in Ireland, the process of popularising political economy was well established in Great Britain. The principal social groups at which these efforts were directed included the adult working classes for whom, according to the Scottish political economist J.R. McCulloch, instruction in the economic principles ‘that must determine their condition in life’ was absolutely imperative, as well as those of school-going age. Political economy, as a newly emergent science, was clearly viewed in these terms and did not disappoint, by producing an array of ‘natural laws’ through the work of Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus.
