Enlightenment and Exchange.

This article examines the late eighteenth-century connection between Enlightenment critique and capitalist economic exchange, focusing on how social tutelage was deemed necessary for national economic development. While Adam Smith posited that the human propensity to exchange drives economic progress, the essay argues that this alone could not ensure the adoption of technical innovations; instead, ongoing cultural guidance or "economic tutelage" was required to overcome resistance to change. Through literary examples from Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth, the article illustrates how individuals and peoples were portrayed as needing instruction to embrace technical progress, with Enlightenment ideals of intellectual autonomy applied to individuals but withheld from social groups. This tutelage aimed to promote wealth creation but often entailed cultural homogenization and could be perceived as both liberating and oppressive. The article highlights that economic growth depended not only on market forces but also on a persistent cultural intervention to secure acceptance of technical change.