History 242
Lecture 8
9/24/09
The Values of the Middle Classes
19th century Europe (bourgeoisie: middle class)
- come from educated professions (doctors, lawyers, ministers)
- also higher merchants/artisans
- lower: bakers, tailors, shoe makers (traditional shopkeepers/artisans)
- big winners in industrialization and benefit from larger governments
Distinctive:
- conception of the family is different from the old regime
oold regime: family is the economic unit that does all of the work
- revolution in what a family/marriage is supposed to be
ono more economics (bad form to only talk about it)
ofamily: spiritual/emotional institution
- economic basis for this: upper levels of jobs are no longer jobs that can be run out
of the home (factory owners go to the factory for work for example)
- formalized by labeling public sphere of work/politics and private sphere of
family/home
Public Sphere: masculine and for commerce/competition
Private Sphere: feminine, domestic, refuge, spiritual, emotional
These two spheres are supposed to balance each other
Great Britain: emergence of middle class family ideals
- late 18th cent: evangelical movement within the Anglican church
ofocused on religion of the heart, family was understood as an anchor for
spiritual life of its members
oindividuals ought to have greater freedom in their marriages
- what out to determine marriages is love, not money (emotional ties)
omen now have a particular calling for a particular job
- this is also a middle class critique of the upper class who married for money
oelite (aristocrats)=>sexual promiscuity is okay
- middle classes criticized this as dangerous to the public good
omen must be sober and good
owomen create a moral haven for men to protect them from the world
(sexual and ethical)
oungentle for women to participate in economics (family business)
Early 19th Century Britain: enormous cultural flow
- 1820 George IV took the throne (aristocrat)
olots of mistresses as crowned prince
