...Being employed was a necessity in order to survive, prosper, and ultimately defined your social class for Victorians in the 19th century. Employment impacted the lives of Victorian men, women, and children. However, the acceptance of women working commenced a change in Victorian stereotypes and gender roles. Professions initiated a change in society’s view of women in the Victorian Era. There were many types of professions available for Victorian women as time progressed. Employed women were faced with new challenges by society and in the workforce. These new challenges were a result of women becoming more independent and the fact that they were breaking gender role boundaries of Victorian society. Duties were divided by gender ever since...
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...What Does The Victorian Tea Set Tell Us About Consumption In 19th Century Britain? A) Conspicuous Consumption and Social Emulation Consumption began to increase greatly as the industrial revolution kicked in, meaning that demand rose substantially for many goods not readily available to the masses beforehand, for example, tea. The Victorian tea set can tell us a great deal about consumption and conspicuous consumption in 19th century Britain. For instance, that appearance and the expensive belongings people had were important to one’s image and social stature, therefore, for families that were able to afford such things such as an expensive Wedgwood tea set were seen as important and wealthy people. The Victorian tea set also became a fashion accessory. Furthermore, luxury and consumption also began to grow more hand in hand. However, conspicuous consumption and social emulation affected the working classes greatly which will also be explored. Wedgwood, being a producer of high quality tea sets in the 19th century, began to aim its products at a much wider market by the 1840s by producing mid – range tea sets so that more British households could afford such luxuries.[1] This shows that demand and conspicuous consumption was on the rise as many more people began the need for this new fashion accessory, hence Wedgwood expanding into this mid – range market. The rise in demand of tea sets ultimately evolved from the fast growing popularity of tea, as it became a respectable...
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...second half of the nineteenth century Britain was a mature industrial society and was able to experience many of the benefits of the industrial revolution. Discuss. By the end of the nineteenth century, Britain experienced enormous industrial expansion, thereby creating an improvement in the lives of most of its people. The middle classes fare well by the opening of new opportunities in employment, residing, for the most part, in the new suburbs of the industrial cities and towns. They surrounded themselves with the clutter of possessions associated with a new consumer age. There were modest improvements in the working and living conditions of working class people, many of whom were drawn to the cities from rural areas in the hope of a better life. This essay will examine the conditions of life in late Victorian Britain in order to establish the extent of the benefits brought about by industrial transformation, insofar as they affected the lives of the different classes. In 1800, twenty five per cent of the population of England lived in the cities and towns. Within a period of eighty years this position was reversed. In 1850, the year of the Great Exhibition, which was a celebration of British industrial achievement, the ‘number of urban dwellers exceeded those who dwelt in the countryside’. The cities of Birmingham and Manchester more than doubled their populations between 1801 and 1831. The industrial revolution was synonymous with the cotton industry in the early part...
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...John Smith English 2323 – CRN 40738 28 March 2015 Midterm Essay – Topic 1 The Effects of Industrialism Although the modern world as we know it could not have existed without the Industrial Revolution, seldom thought is ever given to the real women, men and children whose lives were directly affected by the innovative technologies that changed labor and social normality’s throughout western civilization. An example of the vast economic and social change brought about by industrialism can be observed in Britain during the Victorian age where the way of life for the common laborer completely changed, as the text describes: Transformations in the production of textiles led to the first and most dramatic break with age-old practices … by the beginning of the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution had already created profound economic and social changes. Hundreds of thousands of workers had migrated to the industrial towns … Employers often preferred to hire women and children, who worked for even less money than men (1581). Prose writer Henry Mayhew and poets Elizabeth Barret Browning and William Morris offer profound insight into the hardships of industrialism and its effect upon the poorest laborers, child workers and socialist political movements during the Victorian era of Great Britain. The poor and common laborer suffered greatly during the progress of industrialism. The advent of technological advances caused a great deal of influx in labor pools, as...
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...ANNOTATED SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN Gerard M Koot History Department University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Allen, Robert C., The British Industrial Revolution in a Global Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. viii, 331. Allen’s book is an excellent example of the persuasiveness of the new economic history. It is solidly rooted in statistical data and uses sophisticated methods of economic analysis but its analysis is presented in plain English. He argues that the first industrial revolution occurred in northwestern Europe because its high wages during the early modern period encouraged technological innovation. Although high wages were initially a consequence of the demographic disaster of the Black Death, they were reinforced during the early modern period by the economic success of the region around the North Sea, first, in European trade and manufacturing, especially in wresting the textile industry from the Italians, and then in world trade. According to Allen, the first industrial revolution took place in Britain instead of the Low Countries primarily because of Britain’s abundant and cheap coal resources, combined with the central government’s ability to use mercantilist policies and naval power to reap the greatest benefits from an expanding European and world trade. Once it had taken the lead from the Dutch, and defeated the French, Britain used its comparative advantage...
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...the whole of the nineteenth century was an age consolidation in many respects. Increase of wealth, the general prosperity of England as a whole an account of its colonial hold over other countries, immense growth in scientific and industrial development, are some of the clearly noticeable characteristics of this age. Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate of Victorian era glorifies the reign of Queen Victorian through his ode On the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. On the other side of this picture of commercial and scientific expansion we see the appalling social condition of new industrial cities, the squalid slums, and the exploitation of cheap labour ,the painful fight by the enlightened to introduce social legislation and Victorians were caught between materialism and spiritualism, between realism and romanticism, peace and unrest, science and religion, mechanism and humanism .They could not give up the conventional morality or religious practices so, they try to reconcile religious dogma and scientific truth. Thus Victorian age is often known as an age of compromise. The Victorian age was not only the longest, but also the greatest age in the history of English Fiction. The Novel was the most appealing form of literature during the Victorian age. It was partially because of the steady increase of reading public with...
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...The Victorian Age Angela Anderson Troy University Victorian Family Life The term ‘Victorian’ describes everything what is connected with period of the reign of Victoria Regina (1837-1901). Queen Victoria acceded to the throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen. She reigned for 63 years until 1901. The Victorian Age in the history of England is the period of transformation and developments in approximately each sphere. Although this period was a time of unprecedented changes, the fabric of society remained invariable throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. The British people at that time were traditionally puritan and straight-laced. They adhered to the codes of conduct and took care of their moral appearance. Despite the fact that the working class predominated quantitatively, the Victorian age was the time of the middle class prosperity. Significant part of the working class representatives struggled to meet some unspoken social demands to deserve the right to be called middle class. A family as a social unit was regarded a foundation stone of the Victorian society. Men and women played different social roles and fulfilled different functions as family members. There was no equality between sexes and social classes; and it could be traced in all spheres (education, availability of work and salary rank). In general, the Victorian Age is a period of striking social contrasts and...
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...The Industrial Revolution’s Effect on Social Class Student Name Institutional Affiliation Course Date The Industrial Revolution’s Effect on Social Class The industrial revolution was the period in which fundamental changes and effects took place in England between 1760 to 1850.The revolution had diverse effects on various sectors such as agriculture, education, transportation as well as the social class of the people. Moreover, the industrial revolution was a gradual process and generated drastic changes to the life of people in society as a whole. The fundamental purpose of this study discussion is to explore and showcase the effect the revolution had to the social division of people in England as well as the rest of the world. Social class was the categorization of society by their social and economic status. Focus will be made on various social classes that came into being during this historical era. The effect of the industrial revolution was mostly seen in the living conditions of the social classes during the 1880s. Among the nobility class, the birth was more significant compared to their income levels. Duke Cousins were weak and lazy and were accepted in the high society over the wealthy industrialists emanating from the lower class. Few lords owned great houses both in country and London town and additionally the lords were always waited on by their servants. During the modern industrial period of the 1800s, aristocracy members dominated almost every level of...
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...In the first episode of North and South, we follow a family who moves from southern England to northern England. The story takes place during the Victorian era. It is also during this period that major changes and developments took place in nearly all areas. Advances were made in medical and technological – Wee see how they travel with the train to the north - areas of life which led to changes in population and growth. It was during this period that the Industrial Revolution flourished. At the same time, the female oppression slowly stopped and women began to have roles outside the household. It was also in this period that there were doubts about mans predicted path on earth. In the episode, we clearly see how life in the crowded city is. The sky is always gray, not because of the weather, but because of smoke from the factories. The massive overpopulation was the rea-son people moved from the country to the cities where they could find work. The consequence was, however, poor conditions and lack of freedom. At the time, there were no unions to support the workers and help them get their rights. However, it can be seen in the episode, how the work-ers gather and hold meetings. This is a sign of constructing the first trade unions. Unions that created the basis for the rights we know today. Every day the workers live suppressed from the factory owners. Some of these things are seen in the first episode. Here we get familiar with a local mill-owner named Mr. Thornton. He...
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...attraction to this novel of a by gone era? Callum White explores this question in his thought provoking article, as he delves into Bronte’s novel unravelling the weave of symbols of cultural conflict within her tale. Journeying back to the height of the Victorian bourgeois capitalistic imperialistic society a time when great change was afoot and the emergence of socialism was alluring to many. Victorian literature for the most part has been the product of the middle class or as commonly put by Karl Marx the petit bourgeois. The bourgeois was comprised of small-scale capitalists such as shop-keepers and government employees and in the case of Wuthering Heights it is no different. Written in 1846, Emily Bronte’s novel contains a turbulent ideological storm, demonstrating an apparent crisis of the Victorian era petit bourgeois class to which Bronte was born. Throughout the novel the various crises surrounding the estate and the family are all explored, but more importantly, Wuthering Heights examines the crisis of individuality versus custom, since the contradiction between the social expectations of class privilege and the selfhood advocated by the materialistic pursuit of the capitalist system is the very essence of Victorian consciousness. Bronte appears from the onset of her story more interested in showing the reader a realistic world that is not shackled by fantastical dreams and desires. Rather she shows a world beset by the same conflicts as her own. Her highly integrated...
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...How prepared for a major overseas war was Victorian Britain by 1850? The British Army experienced huge change during the Napoleonic period (1793 to 1813), which influenced greatly their preparations for war in 1850. At the start of the French Revolutionary wars in 1793 Britain had a small poorly run army, made up of only 40,000 men. The commanders were not properly trained merely give the roles due to their social class and family history. However, by the end of the period the numbers had vastly increased and actually peaked at 250,000 men. The armed forces experienced such changes in this period because warfare changed, war became more industrial and Britain had to accommodate for this. Prior to this period they had mainly been involved in small colonial battles but the threat of France and other European nations meant this would change. On the one hand you could argue Britain was prepared for a major overseas war by 1850. Leading up to this date many changes had been made to the forces that would suggest they would be able to engage in a larger scale war. Britain had emerged as a world super power at this time, world leaders in the improvement of technology, undergoing the industrial revelation in the early part of the 19th centaury. These advancements in Britain’s industry allowed them to create and test new technology to improve many different aspects of their war efforts. The most obvious of which would be weaponry. There were numerous inventors experimenting with...
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...The Romantics: Romantic poets view of nature range from spiritual to love. In many poems the description of God is expressed through animals that, such as the lamb, which would represent man as His flock. In some cases the role of nature is a meaningful way to express the human condition. It was also a way to relay a belief or express their thoughts, to carry them to the reader. Nature can be used to express all things to all men. William Blake used the lamb as well as the Tyger to express his views of God, good and evil. He also used it as a way to show his displeasure of the things that were happening in his time. “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee! He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb; He is meek & he is mild; He became a little child; I a child & thou a lamb, we are called by his name.” (Greenblatt, S., 2012, page 120). This expressed that Jesus was the lamb and that we are also so in his name. He was also expressing the treatment of children during this time. He was using nature as symbols and to show that we are all lambs of God and should be treated well. Wordsworth also spoke of nature he as well as Blake used images and patterns to express their emotions, imagination, and identity. In Lines Written in Early Spring, he speaks of the beauty yet still feels saddened and melancholy. He uses the beauty to express his sadness and the dark thoughts of what is happening in the world. This provides an amazing contrast. “The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch...
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...The Industrial Revolution | During the 1800s the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Britain.Britain changes from a rural society to an urban oneIn 1837, Britain was still a rural nation with 80% of the population living in the countryside. Most people were farmers or spun wool and cotton to weave into cloth. Soon new machines were invented that could do these jobs in a fraction of the time. This left many people out of work, so they flocked to the towns in search of jobs in new industries. By the middle of the nineteenth century over 50% of the population lived in towns and cities.The Age of SteamThe Industrial Revolution rapidly gained pace during Victoria's reign because of the power of steam. Victorian engineers developed bigger, faster and more powerful machines that could run whole factories. This led to a massive increase in the number of factories (particularly in textile factories or mills).By 1870, over 100,000 steam engines were at work throughout Britain.The industry depended on steam and steam depended on coal. The number of coalfields doubled between 1851 and 1881.The Age of Steel1856 - Henry Bessemer invented a method for converting iron into steel quickly. Ships, bridges and building could now be bigger.Britain becomes wealthy but ...Despite the growing wealth due to trade and commerce, many of the working people, who actually produced the wealth, lived, worked and died in very poor conditions.HousingMost cities and towns were not prepared for the great increase...
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...many other aspects. They can both be understood as reactions to the Industrial Revolution but more so the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement stressed the importance of beautiful, handmade crafts and Art nouveau eventually evolved from this, especially in architecture. These new age architects especially Gaudi saw the way architecture was being produced most notably that of the example district in Barcelona and was appalled by it. It was like the architecture of a systematic machine much like that of the industrial revolution and he did not agree with it. He saw architecture not only as a functional thing but also a breathing, living and beautiful thing much like that of the goods produced from the arts and crafts movement. 2. Which are the differences between A&C and Art Nouveau? Art Nouveau originates in France and is characterized by the floral, natural forms, whiplash curves and extravagant fluidity of line. It is mainly based on the principals of nature and the idea that buildings or architecture was more than a means of living but rather an interpretation of the living world. They sought to breathe beauty back into the world and to create a fluid flowing structure that was both beautiful and functional. Although the arts and crafts movement sought to maintain beauty in all functions and aspects of life and goods it was also primarily a reaction against the industrial revolution and transcended conventional styles. 3. Which are the connections...
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...many other aspects. They can both be understood as reactions to the Industrial Revolution but more so the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement stressed the importance of beautiful, handmade crafts and Art nouveau eventually evolved from this, especially in architecture. These new age architects especially Gaudi saw the way architecture was being produced most notably that of the example district in Barcelona and was appalled by it. It was like the architecture of a systematic machine much like that of the industrial revolution and he did not agree with it. He saw architecture not only as a functional thing but also a breathing, living and beautiful thing much like that of the goods produced from the arts and crafts movement. 2. Which are the differences between A&C and Art Nouveau? Art Nouveau originates in France and is characterized by the floral, natural forms, whiplash curves and extravagant fluidity of line. It is mainly based on the principals of nature and the idea that buildings or architecture was more than a means of living but rather an interpretation of the living world. They sought to breathe beauty back into the world and to create a fluid flowing structure that was both beautiful and functional. Although the arts and crafts movement sought to maintain beauty in all functions and aspects of life and goods it was also primarily a reaction against the industrial revolution and transcended conventional styles. 3. Which are the connections...
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