Standards of living Flashcards
Define standard of living
A measure indicating the relative wealth and comfort in which people live
Define indices
The indicators, or reference points, showing the relative changes in the cost of living/wages etc., usually worked out from a predeterined base level
What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?
The optimist view is positive and sees a rise in living standards during this time, and pessimists tend to see a fall in living standards
Define real wages
The spending value of the wage earned
What does Edward Royle say about standards of living at this time?
There is no doubt that Britain was ‘getting richer’
What can be said about industrial wages data at this time?
They rose and were higher than domestic and agricultural wages. However they are incomplete and therefore cannot be used as a measure of change
What does optimist historian R.M Hartwell have to say about the debate?
asserts that ‘the standard of living of the masses was improving’ as the indices of cost of living and real wages indicate an upward trend. Also says ‘unquestionably the ammount and variety of food consumed increased between 1800-1850
Give some optimist arguements on the standard of living debate
- There was an increase in output of the manufacturing industry, even when measured against the rise in population, which suggets that there was a greater availability of goods
- With new farming methods, food production increased
- As the proportion of the population employed in the agricultural industry increased, it meant more people had a wage
Why is it hard to get an idea of what real wages were like at this time?
It was not until the late 19th century that more figures were available to compare food prices and wages to consider the average consumotion per capita of food items
Describe E.J Hobsbawn’s more pessimist arguements
- Says that once regional variations in wages and prices and the levels of employment are taken into account, the picture is not clear
- Makes the point that poor living and working conditions in industrial towns negated any positive effects of the real rise in wages
Why are regional variations a roblem for living standards analysis?
Skilled workers did well in some areas but not in others.
What caused handloom weavers to suffer?
The introduction of cartwright’s power loom in the cotton mills
What makes definitive analysis of this time period so difficult?
Living standards fluctuated year on year, largely due to poor harvets and the disruption of war
What else does Hobsbwn factor into the living stanndards debate, and hoiw is this often countered?
The replacement of the gentle pace of rural life with the harsh inflexibility of factory work. However, rural life in Britain before industrialisation was not as idyllic as Hobsbawn seems to make out
What impact did war with France have on British workers
It led to a stagnation in average real wages
