A changing class structure

Question 1

Where did John H Plumb say the exploitation of workers was most intensive?

Answer 1

Smaller factories, where the desire to accumulate capital was most feverish

Question 2

In what contemporary category does Plumb claim the vast majority of the population fell withinn?

Answer 2

the ‘labouring poor’

Question 3

How does J.H Plumb describe the demands on workers, and why does he say this was rarely achieved?

Answer 3

14-16 hour days, six days a week throughout the year apart from Christmas or Good Friday. It was rarely achieved because the human animal broke down under the burden

Question 4

How does Plumb say workers responded to the intensive demands placed upon them?

Answer 4

They squandered their time in drink, promiscuous behaviour and blood sports. Alternatively, they burned down factories, or borke machinery in a pointless industrial revolt. Riots were endemic in industrial areas

Question 5

Define blood sports

Answer 5

Sports that involve the kiling of animals, for example foxes; animal-baiting and cock fighting events were a common form of entertainment in the past.

Question 6

What was the traditional class structure in the late 18th century, and why was it becoming less relevant?

Answer 6

Based on a small, wealthy landowning elite, comprising of the monarch and the aristocracy, in authority over the rest of the population. This structure was becoming less relevant due to the rapid developments in trade and industry. Industrialisation, agricultural change and shifts in population to growing urban centres disturbed the traditional bonds that had existed for centuries in rural communities and small towns, and therefore created new class divisions. The huge population increase also blurred old social divisions

Question 7

What developed within the growing urban centres?

Answer 7

A strong middle class

Question 8

Why was the middle class allowed to grow in industrial areas?

Answer 8

Industrialisation brought extensive oportunities for entrepreneurial men to invest and grow new businesses to increase their wealth.

Question 9

Who was the new industrial world run by?

Answer 9

The emerging middle class

Question 10

What did the emerging middle class begin to question?

Answer 10

The wealth and priviledges of the old order

Question 11

Describe the middle class at this time

Answer 11

They were competitive, hard-working and eager to enjoy the new wealth they had jelped to create. They built furnished substantial townhouses and adopted a pattern of social behaviour that mimicked the upper classes. Together with the professional class (e.g. lawyers), who provided services for them, they made up approximately 25% of the population by 1800

Question 12

What did the majority of the population in urban centres come to be known as?

Answer 12

The working class

Question 13

Describe the industrial workforce at this time

Answer 13

• Most of them were employed in the new factories
• Comprised of skillled craftsmen and unskilled labourers who received an hourly wage
• Their wage was higher than that of agricultural labourers
• When the economy was booming, they had a regualr wage
• In an economic downturn, their wages were lowered or they were temporarily laid off
• The majority lived a hand to mouth existence, dependent on job and wage from those in the middle class
• Skilled craftsmen were able to protect themselves to some extent by joining friendly societies, which paid out in hard times

Question 14

What was one disadvantage shared by all in the new urban areas?

Answer 14

A lack of political rights

Question 15

What was the response to the lack of political rights in urban areas?

Answer 15

New enlightened ideas flourished and a scope was provided for radicalism. There were popular disturbances and demands for reform in towns and cities. Both classes questioned the monopoly of power and political rights by the ruling class, but it was years before a real challenge was mounted. The working class would eventually demand the overthrow of the political system, while the middle class sought only to modify it so that they coould be included aswell.

Question 16

Describe social divisions in the countryside

Answer 16

• They were less evident than in the cities
• The landowning classes would control the social, political and economic activities of the district
• Those who had inherited title and land were made even wealthier by enclosure, agricultural improvemnets and the excavation of mineral deposits on their land.
• The priviledged, sheltered existence of the ruling class continued as before, but now with greater opportunities for consumerism as a result of industrial production
• Below them were tenant farmers, who were fewer in number but had grown in local and political status
• The yeomen class were small, independent farmers who farmed their own land. They were not wealthy and their numbers were dwindling. The generally held view is that they were economic victims of enclosure, as they were unable to meet costs and so were forced to sell out to large landowners

Question 17

Define consumerism

Answer 17

In this context, a preoccupation with and inclination towards spending money on goods, often luxury or non-essential items

Question 18

Define endemic

Answer 18

Something which is regularly found among a group of people

Question 19

Describe the Speenhamland system of poor relief

Answer 19

Poverty was so endemic amongst agricultural labourers that in 1795, the magistrates in Speenhamland introduced a system to supplement wages with allowance that varied according to the price of breadand the size of a labourer’s family. It was widely accepted, but became an unacceptable burden on parish rates. It was an honest attempt to help the poor - its failure was related to an increased population and continuing industrialisation