Middle-class culture in the nineteenth century : America, Australia and Britain / Linda Young.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Young, Linda, 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Middle class--Australia--History--19th century.

Middle class.

Middle class--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Middle class--United States--History--19th century.

Manners and customs.

History.

Australia--Social life and customs--19th century.

Australia.

Great Britain--Social life and customs--19th century.

Great Britain.

United States--Social life and customs--19th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

xi, 245 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Summary:

Drawing on expressive and material culture, Linda Young shows that money was not enough to make the genteel middle class. It required exquisite self-control and the right cultural capital to perform ritual etiquette and present oneself confidently, yet modestly. She argues that genteel culture was not merely derivative, but a re-working of aristocratic standards in the context of the middle class necessity to work. Visible throughout the English-speaking world in the 1780s-1830s and onward, genteel culture reveals continuities often obscured by studies based entirely on national frameworks.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-241) and index.

ISBN:

0333997468

OCLC:

49976953