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Perspective, sources and methodology in acomparative study of the middle class innineteenth-century Leicester andPeterborough

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

P. Jones
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Extract

Social history, and urban history in particular, hasbecome increasingly concerned, in recent years, withstudying the middle class. Historians haveprogressed from a concern with the ‘success’ or‘rise’ of the middle classes, to a study themper se both in quantitative andqualitative terms: questions concerning theirwealth, consumption patterns, residentialpreferences, representation within the politicalleadership as well as their beliefs, values and rolein attention. Urban historians have a particularinterest in the study of the local middle class, ina way that takes into account the finer detail ofdifferent kinds of urban environment and thecomplexities of the urban experience. Since much ofurban history has been at pains to discover thevariety of patterns in urban development and urbansociety, it is not surprising that recentspecialized studies of individual towns and citieshave revealed a great variety in the bases of classrelations. Indeed, the traditional Marxist notion ofa single national class interest is now open toqualification. The disparity between London and theprovinces in respect of class interests has longbeen recognized. An extension of the propositioninherent in that disparity will contend here thatthere were different types of middle class locatedin different types of urban environment. Such aproposition is not in itself pathfinding orparticularly new. There are problems, however, indeciding in what ways such a differentiated patterncan be drawn out, examined and presented in coherentform.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History Yearbook , Volume 14 , May 1987 , pp. 22 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

Notes

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