Portrait: AI-generated imagined likeness
Entrepreneur · Writer
American businessman. He made a fortune in the steel industry and later became known for his donations to libraries and educational institutions. He is a person who thinks about industrial capitalism and the social responsibility of wealth.
View in catalogDunfermline
Birth
Pittsburgh
Work
The Gospel of Wealth
1889
Essay
Carnegie steel business
1870–1901
Cultural event · Leader
Map: Natural Earth (PD)
Born in Scotland, he immigrated to America with his family. He seized the opportunity as an entrepreneur in late 19th century America, where the telegraph, railroads, and steel were rapidly growing.
He grew the Carnegie Steel Company to become a leading figure in the American steel industry through vertical integration and mass production. After retiring, he preached the ``gospel of wealth'' and invested money in public libraries and other projects.
While Carnegie is praised as a philanthropist, he is also associated with labor disputes and issues of inequality. Both the process by which wealth is acquired and the way it is used illustrate the issues of modern capitalism.
When you study Carnegie, you learn that corporate concentration, immigrant labor, mega-wealth, and philanthropy all advanced at the same time in the United States during the Second Industrial Revolution. This is also connected to modern corporate responsibility theory. It can also be used for comparison with surrounding areas from the same era.
