Joanne Punzo Waghorne
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195156638
- eISBN:
- 9780199785292
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156638.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
From Chennai (Madras), India to London and Washington D.C., contemporary urban middle-class Hindus invest earnings, often derived from the global economy, into the construction or renovation of ...
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From Chennai (Madras), India to London and Washington D.C., contemporary urban middle-class Hindus invest earnings, often derived from the global economy, into the construction or renovation of temples. South Indians often lead such efforts to re-establish authentic temples that nonetheless become sites for innovative communities, new visions of the Gods, and distinctive middle-class religious sensibilities. Although a part of the much-discussed resurgence of Hinduism, Gods and their ritual worship — not nationalistic ideology — center these enterprises. This book aims to go beyond the more common analytical starting points of identity, multiculturalism, transnationalism, or globalism to understand contemporary Hinduism. In both conversation and contention with current theory, the book highlights the Gods, their shrines, and the middle-class people who re-establish them. Using surveys of modern temples in Chennai, London, and Washington D.C. patronized by South Indians, it focuses on the ubiquity of certain Gods and Goddesses — but not all — their portrayal, the architecture of their new “homes”, and their place in the modern urban commercial and social landscapes. Arguing that this migration of Gods in tandem with people is not new, the book traces current temple architecture to Indian merchants who constructed new temples within a decade of the founding of Madras by the East India Trading Company in the initial era of the current world economic system. In the process, it questions the interrelationships between ritual worship/religious edifices, the rise of the modern world economy, and the ascendancy of the great middle class in this new era of globalization.Less
From Chennai (Madras), India to London and Washington D.C., contemporary urban middle-class Hindus invest earnings, often derived from the global economy, into the construction or renovation of temples. South Indians often lead such efforts to re-establish authentic temples that nonetheless become sites for innovative communities, new visions of the Gods, and distinctive middle-class religious sensibilities. Although a part of the much-discussed resurgence of Hinduism, Gods and their ritual worship — not nationalistic ideology — center these enterprises. This book aims to go beyond the more common analytical starting points of identity, multiculturalism, transnationalism, or globalism to understand contemporary Hinduism. In both conversation and contention with current theory, the book highlights the Gods, their shrines, and the middle-class people who re-establish them. Using surveys of modern temples in Chennai, London, and Washington D.C. patronized by South Indians, it focuses on the ubiquity of certain Gods and Goddesses — but not all — their portrayal, the architecture of their new “homes”, and their place in the modern urban commercial and social landscapes. Arguing that this migration of Gods in tandem with people is not new, the book traces current temple architecture to Indian merchants who constructed new temples within a decade of the founding of Madras by the East India Trading Company in the initial era of the current world economic system. In the process, it questions the interrelationships between ritual worship/religious edifices, the rise of the modern world economy, and the ascendancy of the great middle class in this new era of globalization.
Martin Ruef
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162775
- eISBN:
- 9781400852642
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162775.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred ...
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This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred social positions. It suggests another source of categorical uncertainty during Reconstruction and beyond. While many Southern journalists and politicians celebrated the expansion of an entrepreneurial middle class at the time, this class actually declined numerically in the proverbial New South. Moreover, the “decaying” planter class was remarkably persistent, both in its dominance of the top of the wealth distribution and its involvement in the postwar industrialization of the region. The social categories of planters and middling Southerners that were deployed in popular discourse—and within the “New South Creed”—thus had little in common with the reality of class structure following the Civil War.Less
This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred social positions. It suggests another source of categorical uncertainty during Reconstruction and beyond. While many Southern journalists and politicians celebrated the expansion of an entrepreneurial middle class at the time, this class actually declined numerically in the proverbial New South. Moreover, the “decaying” planter class was remarkably persistent, both in its dominance of the top of the wealth distribution and its involvement in the postwar industrialization of the region. The social categories of planters and middling Southerners that were deployed in popular discourse—and within the “New South Creed”—thus had little in common with the reality of class structure following the Civil War.
Mike Savage
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587650
- eISBN:
- 9780191740626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587650.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter examines how the social science infrastructure explored the changing character of popular identities in Great Britain during the post-war period. It argues against epochalist accounts ...
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This chapter examines how the social science infrastructure explored the changing character of popular identities in Great Britain during the post-war period. It argues against epochalist accounts that see any simple changes in popular identities and shows the persistence of enduring themes in working-class value which include emphasis on practical skill. The chapter also describes how the middle classes avoided overt forms of cultural elitism and became more confident in their assertion of meritocratic and technocratic values.Less
This chapter examines how the social science infrastructure explored the changing character of popular identities in Great Britain during the post-war period. It argues against epochalist accounts that see any simple changes in popular identities and shows the persistence of enduring themes in working-class value which include emphasis on practical skill. The chapter also describes how the middle classes avoided overt forms of cultural elitism and became more confident in their assertion of meritocratic and technocratic values.
Kwang‐Yeong Shin and Byoung‐Hoon Lee
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732180
- eISBN:
- 9780199866182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732180.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter applies log-linear models to investigate the effects of fathers' social class on children's educational attainment in South Korea. It shows that with respect to educational attainment, ...
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This chapter applies log-linear models to investigate the effects of fathers' social class on children's educational attainment in South Korea. It shows that with respect to educational attainment, the middle class is the most privileged class among four social classes: the capitalist class, the petty bourgeoisie, the middle class, and the working class. The middle class has the highest odds of going to a general high school instead of a vocational high school. The ratio of children of the middle class who go to general high school rather than to vocational school is even larger than that for the capitalist class, let alone the petty bourgeoisie and the working class. However, the odds of going to university instead of not going to university or to a two-year college decrease for all social classes imply that fathers' class effect on children's transition after high school is weaker than that during the transition from middle school to high school. Children of the middle class are more likely to advance to university than those of other classes.Less
This chapter applies log-linear models to investigate the effects of fathers' social class on children's educational attainment in South Korea. It shows that with respect to educational attainment, the middle class is the most privileged class among four social classes: the capitalist class, the petty bourgeoisie, the middle class, and the working class. The middle class has the highest odds of going to a general high school instead of a vocational high school. The ratio of children of the middle class who go to general high school rather than to vocational school is even larger than that for the capitalist class, let alone the petty bourgeoisie and the working class. However, the odds of going to university instead of not going to university or to a two-year college decrease for all social classes imply that fathers' class effect on children's transition after high school is weaker than that during the transition from middle school to high school. Children of the middle class are more likely to advance to university than those of other classes.
Anthony F. Heath, Roger M. Jowell, and John K. Curtice
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199245116
- eISBN:
- 9780191599453
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245118.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
The central hypothesis tested in this chapter is that Labour's traditional constituency in the working class did not respond with enthusiasm to New Labour's apparent lack of concern with their ...
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The central hypothesis tested in this chapter is that Labour's traditional constituency in the working class did not respond with enthusiasm to New Labour's apparent lack of concern with their interests and may have shown some reluctance to turn out and vote for the party. The authors emphasize the smallness of the changes that occurred in the patterns of abstention and strength of partisanship in 1997, but nevertheless, they find some strong hints from the data presented in the chapter that New Labour's move to the centre was, albeit in a rather modest way, responsible for muted enthusiasm among the party's traditional supporters. The analysis also suggests that the changes were specific to Labour and were not part of a general trend towards civic disengagement or political cynicism. The authors discuss the short‐term and the long‐term electoral consequences of these changes—the loss of Labour votes that this muted enthusiasm entailed would have been more than compensated by the extra votes won from the new recruits to Labour in the middle classes. In the longer term, however, this could lead to increased apathy and disengagement among the disadvantaged sectors of society and to a gradual rise in class non‐voting.Less
The central hypothesis tested in this chapter is that Labour's traditional constituency in the working class did not respond with enthusiasm to New Labour's apparent lack of concern with their interests and may have shown some reluctance to turn out and vote for the party. The authors emphasize the smallness of the changes that occurred in the patterns of abstention and strength of partisanship in 1997, but nevertheless, they find some strong hints from the data presented in the chapter that New Labour's move to the centre was, albeit in a rather modest way, responsible for muted enthusiasm among the party's traditional supporters. The analysis also suggests that the changes were specific to Labour and were not part of a general trend towards civic disengagement or political cynicism. The authors discuss the short‐term and the long‐term electoral consequences of these changes—the loss of Labour votes that this muted enthusiasm entailed would have been more than compensated by the extra votes won from the new recruits to Labour in the middle classes. In the longer term, however, this could lead to increased apathy and disengagement among the disadvantaged sectors of society and to a gradual rise in class non‐voting.
David Dowland
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269298
- eISBN:
- 9780191683589
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269298.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
This book presents one of the first analytical accounts of Anglican theological training during its formative period, the 19th century. Until this time Oxford and Cambridge had been recognized as the ...
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This book presents one of the first analytical accounts of Anglican theological training during its formative period, the 19th century. Until this time Oxford and Cambridge had been recognized as the most desirable sources of Anglican clergymen, but there was to be a surge of little-known colleges attended by lower-middle-class ordinands which cut across the assumption that the training received at the fashionable colleges was superior. The book discusses the official attitudes towards the innovation of training large numbers of middle-class and lower-middle-class men for the ministry in an industrial age where a shift of power to the lower classes was widespread.Less
This book presents one of the first analytical accounts of Anglican theological training during its formative period, the 19th century. Until this time Oxford and Cambridge had been recognized as the most desirable sources of Anglican clergymen, but there was to be a surge of little-known colleges attended by lower-middle-class ordinands which cut across the assumption that the training received at the fashionable colleges was superior. The book discusses the official attitudes towards the innovation of training large numbers of middle-class and lower-middle-class men for the ministry in an industrial age where a shift of power to the lower classes was widespread.
Yi‐Lee Wong
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732180
- eISBN:
- 9780199866182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732180.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter focuses on some so-called middle-class losers: seventeen students of a middle-class origin selected from a qualitative study of community-college students in contemporary Hong Kong. They ...
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This chapter focuses on some so-called middle-class losers: seventeen students of a middle-class origin selected from a qualitative study of community-college students in contemporary Hong Kong. They all failed in their previous attempts to follow a traditional route to a local university—passing the required local public examinations—and instead chose an unconventional alternative that became available in Hong Kong in 2000, studying for an associate degree in community college, in the hope that they would transfer later to a university. Based on their personal accounts of educational achievements and failures, the chapter explores the role of emotion in their educational careers to see what we can learn from them in understanding educational inequality.Less
This chapter focuses on some so-called middle-class losers: seventeen students of a middle-class origin selected from a qualitative study of community-college students in contemporary Hong Kong. They all failed in their previous attempts to follow a traditional route to a local university—passing the required local public examinations—and instead chose an unconventional alternative that became available in Hong Kong in 2000, studying for an associate degree in community college, in the hope that they would transfer later to a university. Based on their personal accounts of educational achievements and failures, the chapter explores the role of emotion in their educational careers to see what we can learn from them in understanding educational inequality.
Andrew Lawson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199828050
- eISBN:
- 9780199933334
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199828050.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
“Downwardly Mobile” explores the links between a growing sense of economic precariousness within the American middle class and the development of literary realism over the course of the nineteenth ...
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“Downwardly Mobile” explores the links between a growing sense of economic precariousness within the American middle class and the development of literary realism over the course of the nineteenth century by Rose Terry Cooke, Rebecca Harding Davis, William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Hamlin Garland. The book argues that, in each of these writers, the opacity and abstraction of social relationships in an expanding market economy combined with a sense of pervasive insecurity to produce a “hunger for the real” – a commitment to a mimetic literature capable of stabilizing the social world by capturing it with a new sharpness and accuracy. The book relocates the origins of literary realism in the antebellum period and a structure of feeling based in the residual household economy which prized the virtues of the local, the particular, and the concrete, against the alienating abstractions of the emerging market. In a parallel line of argument, the book explores the ways in which sympathetic identification with lower-class figures served to locate American realist authors in a confused and shifting social space. downward mobilityLess
“Downwardly Mobile” explores the links between a growing sense of economic precariousness within the American middle class and the development of literary realism over the course of the nineteenth century by Rose Terry Cooke, Rebecca Harding Davis, William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Hamlin Garland. The book argues that, in each of these writers, the opacity and abstraction of social relationships in an expanding market economy combined with a sense of pervasive insecurity to produce a “hunger for the real” – a commitment to a mimetic literature capable of stabilizing the social world by capturing it with a new sharpness and accuracy. The book relocates the origins of literary realism in the antebellum period and a structure of feeling based in the residual household economy which prized the virtues of the local, the particular, and the concrete, against the alienating abstractions of the emerging market. In a parallel line of argument, the book explores the ways in which sympathetic identification with lower-class figures served to locate American realist authors in a confused and shifting social space. downward mobility
Richard H. Trainor
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203551
- eISBN:
- 9780191675850
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203551.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This book is a study of the people who ran Victorian industrial towns. It also examines the institutions, policies, rituals, and networks these urban elites deployed to cope with urban growth, social ...
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This book is a study of the people who ran Victorian industrial towns. It also examines the institutions, policies, rituals, and networks these urban elites deployed to cope with urban growth, social unrest, and relative economic decline. Concentrating on a particularly grimy district of the industrial Midlands, the book demonstrates the surprisingly great resources, coherence, sophistication, and impact of the area's mainly middle class leaders, who were well linked to regional and national power centres. This book's analysis suggests the need to re-examine the influential view that Victorian Britain's social development was dominated by London and by land, the professions, and finance. Instead the book indicates the complex give-and-take between the metropolis and its notables, on the one hand, and the industrial provinces and their leaders, on the other.Less
This book is a study of the people who ran Victorian industrial towns. It also examines the institutions, policies, rituals, and networks these urban elites deployed to cope with urban growth, social unrest, and relative economic decline. Concentrating on a particularly grimy district of the industrial Midlands, the book demonstrates the surprisingly great resources, coherence, sophistication, and impact of the area's mainly middle class leaders, who were well linked to regional and national power centres. This book's analysis suggests the need to re-examine the influential view that Victorian Britain's social development was dominated by London and by land, the professions, and finance. Instead the book indicates the complex give-and-take between the metropolis and its notables, on the one hand, and the industrial provinces and their leaders, on the other.
Rowan Strong
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199249220
- eISBN:
- 9780191600760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199249229.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Uses the example of Glasgow to examine the impact on Scottish Episcopalianism of the new urban and industrial society of nineteenth‐century Scotland. It clearly identifies distinct religious ...
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Uses the example of Glasgow to examine the impact on Scottish Episcopalianism of the new urban and industrial society of nineteenth‐century Scotland. It clearly identifies distinct religious sub‐cultures with this urban setting, including working‐class Episcopalianism, middle‐class Episcopalianism, and clerical Episcopalianism whose requirements were, at times, in conflict with one another. The Episcopal Church is seen to be more responsive earlier in the nineteenth century to the new urban masses than has been generally thought by historians. Working‐class Episcopalianism is also more genuine, if informal in its religious need, than proponents of a secularizing nineteenth century have posited.clergyLess
Uses the example of Glasgow to examine the impact on Scottish Episcopalianism of the new urban and industrial society of nineteenth‐century Scotland. It clearly identifies distinct religious sub‐cultures with this urban setting, including working‐class Episcopalianism, middle‐class Episcopalianism, and clerical Episcopalianism whose requirements were, at times, in conflict with one another. The Episcopal Church is seen to be more responsive earlier in the nineteenth century to the new urban masses than has been generally thought by historians. Working‐class Episcopalianism is also more genuine, if informal in its religious need, than proponents of a secularizing nineteenth century have posited.clergy
Mike Savage
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587650
- eISBN:
- 9780191740626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587650.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter examines the emergence of the so-called technical identity in Great Britain in 1954. It argues that the changing relations between the middle and working classes encouraged amongst the ...
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This chapter examines the emergence of the so-called technical identity in Great Britain in 1954. It argues that the changing relations between the middle and working classes encouraged amongst the former both a rejection of the gentlemanly embrace, which was seen to be out of keeping with the meritocratic tenor of post-war Britain, and a new interest in rational planning, which was to prove receptive to the social sciences. The chapter contends that the social sciences were shaped by a managerial concern, strongly indebted to cultures of war, mobilization, and demobilization, and suggests that the social sciences did not merely respond to a changing external environment but are themselves implicated in new forms of governmentality, regulation, and social imaginary.Less
This chapter examines the emergence of the so-called technical identity in Great Britain in 1954. It argues that the changing relations between the middle and working classes encouraged amongst the former both a rejection of the gentlemanly embrace, which was seen to be out of keeping with the meritocratic tenor of post-war Britain, and a new interest in rational planning, which was to prove receptive to the social sciences. The chapter contends that the social sciences were shaped by a managerial concern, strongly indebted to cultures of war, mobilization, and demobilization, and suggests that the social sciences did not merely respond to a changing external environment but are themselves implicated in new forms of governmentality, regulation, and social imaginary.
Ross McKibbin
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206729
- eISBN:
- 9780191677298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206729.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
This chapter discusses the themes prevalent in the middle class. It considers patterns of middle-class expenditure, the development of private housing and its social effects, middle-class ...
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This chapter discusses the themes prevalent in the middle class. It considers patterns of middle-class expenditure, the development of private housing and its social effects, middle-class associations and social networks, the differences between the ‘traditional’ and ‘nontraditional’ middle class, patterns of marriage and domesticity, and the growth of an ‘apolitical’ sociability which allowed the various middle classes to regroup in self-defence and to act as a single class. The discussion notes that the middle class had become a national class, and that beliefs and predictions about middle-class fertility, and the negative effects of owner-occupation were greatly exaggerated. However, there was little spontaneity in middle-class social life. Things necessarily had to be organized. This inevitably put much of the weight of sociability on the shoulders of the wife.Less
This chapter discusses the themes prevalent in the middle class. It considers patterns of middle-class expenditure, the development of private housing and its social effects, middle-class associations and social networks, the differences between the ‘traditional’ and ‘nontraditional’ middle class, patterns of marriage and domesticity, and the growth of an ‘apolitical’ sociability which allowed the various middle classes to regroup in self-defence and to act as a single class. The discussion notes that the middle class had become a national class, and that beliefs and predictions about middle-class fertility, and the negative effects of owner-occupation were greatly exaggerated. However, there was little spontaneity in middle-class social life. Things necessarily had to be organized. This inevitably put much of the weight of sociability on the shoulders of the wife.
Thomas E. Skidmore
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195332698
- eISBN:
- 9780199868162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195332698.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter begins by discussing the transfer of the sash of office to Getúlio Vargas. It examines the Brazilian society and the question of economic development. It notes the formulae of growth and ...
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This chapter begins by discussing the transfer of the sash of office to Getúlio Vargas. It examines the Brazilian society and the question of economic development. It notes the formulae of growth and the increasing social tensions. It also discusses the 1953 new political strategy led by Vargas and the attempt of economic stabilization. It also mentions Vargas’s neglect of the middle class. It notes his exercise of test of power during February 1954 as well as his equivocation and polarization. It then investigates issues of assassination and suicide.Less
This chapter begins by discussing the transfer of the sash of office to Getúlio Vargas. It examines the Brazilian society and the question of economic development. It notes the formulae of growth and the increasing social tensions. It also discusses the 1953 new political strategy led by Vargas and the attempt of economic stabilization. It also mentions Vargas’s neglect of the middle class. It notes his exercise of test of power during February 1954 as well as his equivocation and polarization. It then investigates issues of assassination and suicide.
James Hinton
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199243297
- eISBN:
- 9780191714054
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243297.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This introductory chapter focuses on the voluntary work of middle-aged, middle-class women and serves to challenge ‘optimistic’ accounts of the impact of war on class and gender inequalities. It ...
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This introductory chapter focuses on the voluntary work of middle-aged, middle-class women and serves to challenge ‘optimistic’ accounts of the impact of war on class and gender inequalities. It critiques anti-socialist narratives of middle-class decline; discusses the extent of wartime voluntary work; explains the book's strategy of placing the history of the WVS in the wider context of female associational life in provincial England; and sets out some theoretical propositions on the relationships between class, gender, politics, and voluntary work.Less
This introductory chapter focuses on the voluntary work of middle-aged, middle-class women and serves to challenge ‘optimistic’ accounts of the impact of war on class and gender inequalities. It critiques anti-socialist narratives of middle-class decline; discusses the extent of wartime voluntary work; explains the book's strategy of placing the history of the WVS in the wider context of female associational life in provincial England; and sets out some theoretical propositions on the relationships between class, gender, politics, and voluntary work.
PHILIP WALLER
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199260201
- eISBN:
- 9780191717352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260201.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
Civil society is conventionally identified with the hegemony of a disinterested middle-class public, guaranteed to withstand the brigand rapacity of selfish parties, whether aristocrat or artisan, ...
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Civil society is conventionally identified with the hegemony of a disinterested middle-class public, guaranteed to withstand the brigand rapacity of selfish parties, whether aristocrat or artisan, plutocrat or pauper, who are intent of feathering their nests at the expense of the common good. This chapter tests this presumption through a case study of the conceptions of civil rights and duties held by middling sorts of people when a perceived crisis compelled them to contemplate such things. They were the Edwardian England's Charlie Chaplins, petty folk who felt bullied by myriad forces: labour, capitalism, landlordism, and statism.Less
Civil society is conventionally identified with the hegemony of a disinterested middle-class public, guaranteed to withstand the brigand rapacity of selfish parties, whether aristocrat or artisan, plutocrat or pauper, who are intent of feathering their nests at the expense of the common good. This chapter tests this presumption through a case study of the conceptions of civil rights and duties held by middling sorts of people when a perceived crisis compelled them to contemplate such things. They were the Edwardian England's Charlie Chaplins, petty folk who felt bullied by myriad forces: labour, capitalism, landlordism, and statism.
Ross McKibbin
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206729
- eISBN:
- 9780191677298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206729.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
This chapter examines the size, wealth, and changing social composition of the middle class. It looks at the emergence from an essentially Edwardian middle class of a ‘modern’ middle class, which is ...
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This chapter examines the size, wealth, and changing social composition of the middle class. It looks at the emergence from an essentially Edwardian middle class of a ‘modern’ middle class, which is to some extent aware of its modernity. It explores its relations with the state and other social classes, particularly the working and the extent to which members favoured social movements. The discussion suggests that there were three discrete phases in the middle-class life-cycle, each of which had its own history: 1918–23, 1923–38, and 1938–51. One effect of the Second World War was to associate democracy with the working class, and the predominant notion of democracy thereby became collective rather than individualist. This tended to unite the middle class, new and old, against ‘socialism’, ‘bureaucracy’, and the ‘unions’, as they had been united in the early 1920s.Less
This chapter examines the size, wealth, and changing social composition of the middle class. It looks at the emergence from an essentially Edwardian middle class of a ‘modern’ middle class, which is to some extent aware of its modernity. It explores its relations with the state and other social classes, particularly the working and the extent to which members favoured social movements. The discussion suggests that there were three discrete phases in the middle-class life-cycle, each of which had its own history: 1918–23, 1923–38, and 1938–51. One effect of the Second World War was to associate democracy with the working class, and the predominant notion of democracy thereby became collective rather than individualist. This tended to unite the middle class, new and old, against ‘socialism’, ‘bureaucracy’, and the ‘unions’, as they had been united in the early 1920s.
Markus Daechsel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198078012
- eISBN:
- 9780199080984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078012.003.0049
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
Whilst a ‘middle class’ identity is easily discernable in contemporary Punjabi culture, it is far harder to pinpoint in colonial Punjab. The political economy of the pre-Partition province was ...
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Whilst a ‘middle class’ identity is easily discernable in contemporary Punjabi culture, it is far harder to pinpoint in colonial Punjab. The political economy of the pre-Partition province was structured around considerations of stable landownership, military recruitment, and the production of cash crops. This framework encouraged the growth of a substantial service stratum in administrative and commercial centres, but also imposed strict limits on the extent to which this new social constituency could feel and speak as a ‘middle class’. The emergence of social and religious reformism in vernacular print-culture — which is often identified as the crystallization of a new middle-class-ness in other parts of India — was in the Punjab part and parcel of this straightjacket of elite control. A middle-class could emerge in late colonial Punjab, but unlike its later manifestations in the age of development, it could only ever exist as a divided, tortured and self-hating formation.Less
Whilst a ‘middle class’ identity is easily discernable in contemporary Punjabi culture, it is far harder to pinpoint in colonial Punjab. The political economy of the pre-Partition province was structured around considerations of stable landownership, military recruitment, and the production of cash crops. This framework encouraged the growth of a substantial service stratum in administrative and commercial centres, but also imposed strict limits on the extent to which this new social constituency could feel and speak as a ‘middle class’. The emergence of social and religious reformism in vernacular print-culture — which is often identified as the crystallization of a new middle-class-ness in other parts of India — was in the Punjab part and parcel of this straightjacket of elite control. A middle-class could emerge in late colonial Punjab, but unlike its later manifestations in the age of development, it could only ever exist as a divided, tortured and self-hating formation.
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199261185
- eISBN:
- 9780191601507
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199261180.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
The social democratic state rises from the Great Depression and Second Word War. And up to the 1970s, the capitalist economies grow enormously, at the same time that social rights were recognized and ...
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The social democratic state rises from the Great Depression and Second Word War. And up to the 1970s, the capitalist economies grow enormously, at the same time that social rights were recognized and the welfare state implemented. The tax burden and the state apparatus grow to face the new social and developmental activities taken on by the state. With the social state emerges plural or public opinion democracy. Political elites diversify, including increasing representatives of the professional middle class. Capitalism also diversifies, and we can detect four models of capitalism: the Anglo-Saxon market model, the European social model, the Asian developmental model, and the Latin American mixed model of capitalism. Particularly in the later two models, a developmental bureaucracy rises.Less
The social democratic state rises from the Great Depression and Second Word War. And up to the 1970s, the capitalist economies grow enormously, at the same time that social rights were recognized and the welfare state implemented. The tax burden and the state apparatus grow to face the new social and developmental activities taken on by the state. With the social state emerges plural or public opinion democracy. Political elites diversify, including increasing representatives of the professional middle class. Capitalism also diversifies, and we can detect four models of capitalism: the Anglo-Saxon market model, the European social model, the Asian developmental model, and the Latin American mixed model of capitalism. Particularly in the later two models, a developmental bureaucracy rises.
Sylvia J Cook
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195327809
- eISBN:
- 9780199870547
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327809.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This book explores the mental and literary awakening that many working-class women in the United States experienced when they left home to work in factories early in the 19th century. It examines the ...
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This book explores the mental and literary awakening that many working-class women in the United States experienced when they left home to work in factories early in the 19th century. It examines the ways that their hopes for lives of full development were fulfilled, exploited, and often disappointed — a process repeated when immigrant women entered factories and sweatshops early in the 20th century. It investigates their literary productions, from the New England factory magazine, the Lowell Offering, to Emma Goldman's periodical, Mother Earth; from Lucy Larcom's epic poem of women operatives, An Idyl of Work, to Theresa Malkiel's novel of sweatshop workers, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker. Working women's fascination with books and writing evolved in the context of an American romanticism that encouraged ideals of self-reliance, although not in factory “girls”. Their efforts to pursue a life of the mind while engaged in manual labor also coincided with the emergence of middle-class women writers from private lives into the literary marketplace. However, while middle-class women risked forfeiting their femininity by trying to earn money, factory women were accused of betraying their class by attempting to be literary. The book traces the romantic literariness of several generations of working-class women and the broader literary responses to them from male romantic authors, popular novelists, and union writers for the Knights of Labor. The most significant literary interaction, however, is with middle-class women writers, many of whom responded sympathetically to workers' economic and social inequities, but balked at promoting their artistic and intellectual equality.Less
This book explores the mental and literary awakening that many working-class women in the United States experienced when they left home to work in factories early in the 19th century. It examines the ways that their hopes for lives of full development were fulfilled, exploited, and often disappointed — a process repeated when immigrant women entered factories and sweatshops early in the 20th century. It investigates their literary productions, from the New England factory magazine, the Lowell Offering, to Emma Goldman's periodical, Mother Earth; from Lucy Larcom's epic poem of women operatives, An Idyl of Work, to Theresa Malkiel's novel of sweatshop workers, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker. Working women's fascination with books and writing evolved in the context of an American romanticism that encouraged ideals of self-reliance, although not in factory “girls”. Their efforts to pursue a life of the mind while engaged in manual labor also coincided with the emergence of middle-class women writers from private lives into the literary marketplace. However, while middle-class women risked forfeiting their femininity by trying to earn money, factory women were accused of betraying their class by attempting to be literary. The book traces the romantic literariness of several generations of working-class women and the broader literary responses to them from male romantic authors, popular novelists, and union writers for the Knights of Labor. The most significant literary interaction, however, is with middle-class women writers, many of whom responded sympathetically to workers' economic and social inequities, but balked at promoting their artistic and intellectual equality.
Linn Posey-Maddox
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226120188
- eISBN:
- 9780226120355
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226120355.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
This book examines the school choices and engagement of middle- and upper middle-class parents in urban education. It is based upon ethnographic research conducted in a California public elementary ...
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This book examines the school choices and engagement of middle- and upper middle-class parents in urban education. It is based upon ethnographic research conducted in a California public elementary school affected by demographic change. The book contributes to the literature on economic integration and school choice through its exploration of an understudied phenomenon: school demographic shifts driven by the outreach, marketing, and volunteerism of middle-class parents, rather than by district policies and practices. The findings indicate that the engagement of a racially mixed group of middle- and upper middle-class families in what had been a predominantly African American, working-class school brought new resources, diversity, and educational opportunities to the school. At the same time, however, the demographic, sociocultural, and material changes brought about new and exacerbated old tensions within the school community related to race, class, and residence in the school and broader district. The findings suggest that school reform strategies that depend upon middle-class parent engagement—without policies and practices to ensure that low-income families also participate in and benefit from school change—can create new patterns of educational inequality, often despite parents’ best intentions. The book argues that urban school transformation efforts should be evaluated based upon the goal of equitable developments in urban education. Doing so would require a focus not simply on outcomes like rising test scores and increased enrollment, but also on issues of access and opportunity for low-income students as school communities begin to change.Less
This book examines the school choices and engagement of middle- and upper middle-class parents in urban education. It is based upon ethnographic research conducted in a California public elementary school affected by demographic change. The book contributes to the literature on economic integration and school choice through its exploration of an understudied phenomenon: school demographic shifts driven by the outreach, marketing, and volunteerism of middle-class parents, rather than by district policies and practices. The findings indicate that the engagement of a racially mixed group of middle- and upper middle-class families in what had been a predominantly African American, working-class school brought new resources, diversity, and educational opportunities to the school. At the same time, however, the demographic, sociocultural, and material changes brought about new and exacerbated old tensions within the school community related to race, class, and residence in the school and broader district. The findings suggest that school reform strategies that depend upon middle-class parent engagement—without policies and practices to ensure that low-income families also participate in and benefit from school change—can create new patterns of educational inequality, often despite parents’ best intentions. The book argues that urban school transformation efforts should be evaluated based upon the goal of equitable developments in urban education. Doing so would require a focus not simply on outcomes like rising test scores and increased enrollment, but also on issues of access and opportunity for low-income students as school communities begin to change.
