A particular condition in life : self-employment and social mobility in mid-Victorian Brantford, Ontario / David G. Burley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burley, David G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social mobility--Ontario--Brantford--History--19th century.

Social mobility.

Labor market--Ontario--Brantford--History--19th century.

Labor market.

Brantford (Ont.)--Social conditions--19th century.

Brantford (Ont.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 309 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kingston ; Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Using extensive quantitative data, Burley provides a cultural analysis of the business community during the mid-nineteenth century. Because self-employment was so pervasive in Brantford, the impact of industrialization was particularly striking. Self-employed businessmen were forced to try to locate themselves in an emerging class system which often contradicted traditional Victorian social ideals of independence and manliness. Burley's exploration of the tensions behind these conflicting values - tensions both between myth and reality and within the bourgeois world view itself - is an important addition to the literature on business behaviour and Victorian cultural history. A Particular Condition in Life will be of interest to social, urban, and labour historians, sociologists, and those interested in the history of Ontario.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Business Enterprise and Social Relations in a Mid-Victorian Town

Who Was Self-Employed?

Credit and Debt

The Structure of Wealth

The Making of the Self-Made Man

Social Change and Urban Politics

Conclusion

Occupational Categories

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85701-0

9786612857010

0-7735-6480-2

OCLC:

1394873057