Activity: Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

invisible hand adam smith for high school emergent order classroom resources classroom activities

Start your class with a brief activity and discussion of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

“Bellringers” are classroom tools that help set the tone or introduce a topic in the classroom. Adam Smith Works bellringers use quotations from and activities based on the work of Adam Smith, allowing you to illustrate the long history of the ideas you will explore in your classroom by grounding them in great books.

Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy.

Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information.

Click the hyperlinked quotation (for example, look for something like (WN 1.ii.2) to see the quotation in the context of the full text.
- Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.
- Alternatively, click on "Contents" to find the relevant chapter of the text. "WN 1.ii.2" is Wealth of Nations Book 1, chapter 2. "TMS I.iii.1.7" is The Theory of Moral Sentiments Book 1, chapter 3, section 1.
  (The last number in the citation refers to the paragraph in the section.)
Where available, click "Click here for more about this quotation" to visit a short article about the passage in question.
Speaking notes suggest topics for discussion when using each quotation.

Slide: Activity—Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

“By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more
effectually than when he really intends to promote it.” (WN IV.ii.9)

This group activity should take five to ten minutes, plus any time allocated for class discussion.

Display the slide with the excerpt of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations containing the invisible hand.

Today we will investigate a famous metaphor used by Adam Smith that suggests our behavior toward betterment of our current circumstance is quite predictable and can even result in unintentionally benefiting others. An “invisible hand” guides us. Discuss your inclinations and actions in the following potential circumstances. Could others benefit from your actions?

Working toward a higher grade in a class?
Negotiating for a higher babysitting or tutoring wage.

Once the discussion is complete, students may explore further using the related materials listed below.

See the quotation in context as part of the full online text of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations here. Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.

Read more about this quotation at the OLL Entry. You may choose to share this piece with your students following their discussion. Do they agree or disagree with the explanation provided?

Want more of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand for your classroom? Try:

Invisible Hand Toolkit, a collection of original resources for tackling the invisible hand in your classroom.
Lesson Plan: The Invisible Hand, Spontaneous Order, and a Pizza.
Lesson Plan: Pins, Pencils, and the Invisible Hand, which includes optional guided reading of the full passages.