The class structure of Victorian England

• lowest of the official three-class-system
• men and women who performed physical labor, paid daily or weekly wages
• had very little chance for education
• did not participate in social entertainment
• lower working class
• upper working class
• engaged in factory work
• no social security
• men ,women and even children would have to work in factories
• Poor living and working conditions

The class structure of Victorian England

Working Class

Class system

Upper Class

General information

• highest social class of Victorian England social hierarchy

• did not work manually or had business in the parliament ( nationally important )

• The established career for society women was marriage

• land owners, aristocrats, gentry

• income came from the investments

• sub divided in three parts

Middle Class

Working and living conditions

• period of Queen Victoria's reign (1837 - 1901)

• change away from the rationalism toward

• romanticism and mysticism

• Different social classes distinguished by inequalities (wealth, working conditions...)

• created profound economic and social changes

• people from the countryside began to move into the towns

• working class house was usually sandwiched between other houses massive slums
• families lived crowded together
• worked for long hours
• disregarded the workers health
• average wage was between 20 and 30 shillings a week
• 20 shilling= 1 pound

• 15% of population

• only men provided the income

• women cared for their husbands and children

• upper middle class

• lower middle class

• attended the Church of England

• idea of self-made men

Structure

Religion, arts and literature

Under class

• barely regarded in the Victorian age

• entire streets in the slums were inhabited by prostitutes

• poor people and orphans -> relied on the charity of others

1. Class System

1.1 Working class

1.2 Middle class

1.3 Upper class

1.4 Under class

2. Rise of the Middle class

3. Change in literature, art and religion

Rise of the middle class

• industrial and urban middle-class can be seen as striving to establish a society based on credit rather than on one's birth

• the normal clerks lived in little cottages

Literature:

• novels became more important than poetry
• Charles Dickens dominated the first part of Victoria's reign
• realistic, thickly plotted, crowded with characters and long

• associated with the growth of cities and the expansion of the economy

• made great fortunes in the early days of the industrial revolution

• the great boom created new specialized jobs

• the scale of industry and oversees trade, together with shipping and railways increased

• rise into the upper middle class

• used their wealth to buy land and stately homes

• barely distinguished from upper class in values

Sources

http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/intro98/ray_student_page/group_2/class-M.htm

http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/middleclass/themiddleclass.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/middle_classes_01.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/review/summary.htm

http://www.avictorian.com/victorianart.html

http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-victorians-art-and-culture

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/english-literature-the-victorian-age.html

http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/poor/workingclass.html

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/work/burnett1.html

https://classicbookreader.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/class-structure-of-victorian-england/

http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/VictorianEngland.htm

http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/F2005WS267/NicoleLemieux/historypaper.html

Religion

Religion

The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1888

Art

• advancements in science and technology became important <--> religion began a down-hill slide
• 1859 Charles Darwin published his evolution of the species theory -> people also the clergy began to question the beliefs of church

• changing viewpoint on aesthetics

• include the Classicism era, followed by the Neoclassicism movement, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism

• influenced by romanticism

• 1848: association of painters -> pre raphaelite -> tried to detach from the renaissance style