Victorian Era: Social Hierarchy

Victorian Era: Social Hierarchy

Shannon Hanggodo, Nick Rouwhorst, Esther Adebiyi, Jared Baldwin

Upper Class

Three sub-sections:

Royal Class: Royal family, Religious lords

Middle Upper: Upper lords, officers of England

Lower Upper: Wealthy businessmen (Worked for their

station

(Victorian England Social Hierarchy, Hierarchystructure.com)

• Rich
• Inheritance in-family
• Expansions of land
• Extravagence
• Wealthiest class in the Victorian Era

(Victorian Era: An introduction, victorianweb.org)

Upper Class (Cont.)

Works Cited

• Upper Class did not work
• Working class were paid to work for them
• Money and wealth inherited
• In-breeding to keep wealth in family
• Genetic disorders
• Large lands, titles, and wealth
• Stayed rich and powerful in Victorian Era
• Abused power on working class

• Cody, David. "Social Class." Social Class. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Class.html>.
• "Victorian England." Victorian England. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. <http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/VictorianEngland.htm>.
• "Victorian England Social Hierarchy." Hierarchy Structure. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. <http://www.hierarchystructure.com/victorian-england-social-hierarchy/>.
• "Victorian Era Society and Social Class Structure." VictorianEraorg. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. <http://www.victorian-era.org/victorian-era-society.html>.
• "Class Structure of Victorian England." 100 Classics Challenge. Classic Book Reader, 1 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2015. <https://classicbookreader.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/class-structure-of-victorian-england/>.
• Mitchell, Sally. "Middle Class." Class. Greenwood Press, 11 Aug. 1996. Web. 19 Dec. 2015. <http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/intro98/ray_student_page/group_2/class-M.htm>.

(Victorian England, English.uwosh.du)

Three Classes

Middle Class

Changes in Society

• Middle class took up 15% of the population of england (Mitchell, "Middle Class", eng.fju.edu.tw/).
• The middle class was split into to parts the upper middle class and the lower middle class (Victorian England Social Hierarchy, Hierarchystructure.com).
• The people in the middle class maintained curtain value (Class Structure of Victorian England, classicbookreader.wordpress.com)

• Upper Class: Nobles, Dukes, Aristocrats, Rulers

• Middle Class: Business Empire owners, Higher salary earnings

• Working Class:
• Skilled workers
• Unskilled workers

Upper Middle Class

• Laws made by the rich
• Kept upper-class in power
• Education provided to middle and upper class
• Working class had no voice
• Led to hostility towards middle and upper classes
• Middle class influenced some political decision
• Higher status = more power
• Working class had little to no power

• Included people of the highest social standing and wealth in the middle class (Class Structure of Victorian England, classicbookreader.wordpress.com).
• They were large scale merchants and bankers (Class Structure of Victorian England, classicbookreader.wordpress.com).

(Social Class, Victorianweb.org)

Lower Middle Class

(Victorian Era Society, victorian-era.org)

• Included people of poor social standing and wealth compared to the other middle class (Class Structure of Victorian England, classicbookreader.wordpress.com).
• They were small shopkeepers and other poor merchants (Class Structure of Victorian England, classicbookreader.wordpress.com).

Working Class

Working Class- Unskilled

Some unskilled workers:

Crossing sweeping

Costermongers

The Victorian Navvy etc.

The working class are the people who had to work for their money because most of them didn't have an education.

(Helena Wojtczak, Women of the "Lower" Working Class) http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/lower.html)

The working class weren't really in the lope when it came to politcals. (David Cody, Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College, Social Class, http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Class.html )

There are two type of the working class:

skilled and unskilled.

(Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period as Seen by Artists, Writers, and Modern Historians http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/history/work/index.html

Working Class- Skilled

Some skilled workers:

• Craftsmen
• Blacksmith
• Artisans

Semi-skilled workers:

• Miners
• Textile mill workers

(Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period as Seen by Artists, Writers, and Modern Historians http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/history/work/index.html )