The middle class has been described by historians as continually rising. But who were they and where were they going? Middle-class values came to dominate Western Europe in the nineteenth century. These values have been understood as rigid, repressive and prudish, yet the middle classes also comprised many daring individuals, sexual perversions, and radical politics. Through reading of primary and secondary sources, we will discuss various ways of understanding class, as a function of economic position, social status and cultural aspiration. We will consider how identity was constructed, and how the middle class came to be a self-conscious group, in spite of great diversity amongst those who identified themselves as such. This module will introduce students to the history and historiography of the nineteenth-century British middle classes. Students will be introduced to a range of concepts in social and cultural history, including class formation and consolidation, the cultural construction of identity, and the intersection of nationality, class and gender in shaping identity and experience. A range of primary and secondary sources will be used for teaching this module, allowing students to develop a range of analytic skills, a familiarity with current historiography and debates, and some knowledge of the sources and research skills of the modern historian.

This module gives students the opportunity to study the formation and consolidation of the British Middle Classes in the nineteenth century. It introduces students to a range of primary texts, as well as key historiographic debates. The module explores a range of topics including politics, work and leisure, in order to provide a rounded picture of who the middle classes were as well as their (often conflictual) relations with other social classes.