The plights of the novel's protagonists demonstrate the evils and corruption of unrestrained capitalist economies. Sinclair conceived The Jungle as a Socialist novel. Capitalists hoarded resources and wealth for themselves, while millions of workers and laborers suffered in poverty and dangerous working conditions. Sinclair came to see capitalism as a vicious system of economics that exploits the masses in order to make the elite few rich. Socialism is an economic theory that promotes worker ownership of the resources of production. Sinclair was exposed to Socialist politics as a young writer and quickly became convinced by the movement's premise.
Muckraking journalism inspired public outrage and catalyzed a number of reform movements in the early twentieth century. He also gives examples of the unsanitary conditions in which much of America's food was made. Sinclair writes of how the meat packing industry exploits its workers, many of whom are uneducated and poor. The Jungle exemplifies this muckraker style in its often gory depictions of life in a meat packing factory. They did so by publishing articles and books describing, often in horrifying detail, the conditions of corruption and the ways in which it affected the lives of those both directly and indirectly involved.
Taking their name from a term first used by President Theodore Roosevelt, muckrakers sought to expose the corruption within business and government. Sinclair's The Jungle is one of the most important examples of early twentieth century muckraker journalism.
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