French Revolution | History, Summary, Timeline, Causes, & Facts
The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the ...
standards of living
The French Revolution had general causes common to all the revolutions of the West at the end of the 18th century and particular causes that explain why it was by far the most violent and the most universally significant of these revolutions. The first of the general causes was the social structure of the West. The feudal regime had been weakened step-by-step and had already disappeared in parts of Europe. The increasingly numerous and prosperous elite of wealthy commoners—merchants, manufacturers, and professionals, often called the bourgeoisie—aspired to political power in those countries where it did not already possess it. The peasants, many of whom owned land, had attained an improved standard of living and education and wanted to get rid of the last vestiges of feudalism so as to acquire the full rights of landowners and to be free to increase their holdings. Furthermore, from about 1730, higher <anchor>standards of living</anchor> had reduced the mortality rate among adults considerably. This, together with other factors, had led to an increase in the population of Europe unprecedented for several centuries: it doubled between 1715 and 1800. For France, which with 26 million inhabitants in 1789 was the most populated country of Europe, the problem was most acute.
Standard of living | Quality of Life, Economic Growth & Inequality | Britannica Money
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# standard of living

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Also known as: living standards

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standard of living, in social science, the aspirations of an individual or group for goods and services. Alternatively, the term is applied specifically to a measure of the consumption of goods and services by an individual or group, sometimes called “level of living” (what is) as opposed to “standard” (what is desired). Both include privately purchased items as well as items that lead to an increased sense of well-being but are not under the individual’s direct control, such as publicly provided services and the quality of the environment.

Some social scientists maintain that a person’s desired standard of living is strongly influenced by the consumption patterns of his or her income peers. Because of this, an individual’s standard of living may be expected to change as income changes.

Difficulties accompany any comparison of living standards between population groups or countries. Care must be taken to distinguish between the average value of some measure of actual consumption and the dispersion around that average. If, for example, the average value increases over time, but at the same time the rich become richer and the poor poorer, it may be incorrect to conclude that the group is collectively better off. Accordingly, it can be difficult to compare standards of living between countries that exhibit widely differing degrees of dispersion. In practice there are wide disparities both within countries and between countries. By most criteria, the differences in living standards between developed and less-developed countries are more acute than the differences that exist between countries with developed economies.

These problems occur regardless of what quantitative indicators are chosen to measure the standard of living. Apart from income, useful indicators may include the consumption of certain foodstuffs such as protein, a measure of life expectancy, and access to basic amenities such as a safe water supply. These indexes, however, involve serious problems of comparability between countries and regions, especially since even the most basic data, such as reliable population estimates, may be unavailable for some very poor countries.

Monetary measures of living standards tend to omit important aspects of life (e.g., nutrition, life expectancy) that cannot be bought or sold. Other difficulties accompany the use of monetary indicators. For example, the items that are measurable in monetary terms may have been valued at distorted prices. International comparisons using official exchange rates can be misleading, particularly where the foreign exchange market is manipulated by governments. Comparisons over time need to be adjusted for variations in price levels, but this is not always a simple matter, especially given differences in inflation rates between countries. If the relative prices of various goods and services differ substantially between two countries, it is particularly difficult to make a fair comparison of standards of living when they are based on consumption levels.

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