Imagining the Middle Class: The Political Representation of Class in Britain, c.1780–1840

by Dror Wahrman

This book explores the origins of the influential view of modern society that places a "middle class" at its center, as it developed in Britain during the so-called "Industrial Revolution." Using a wider variety of sources and closer methods of textual analysis than previous studies of languages of class, the author develops a nuanced model for the interplay of social reality and social language. He demonstrates that a "middle class"-based language of social description did not simply reflect changes in social structure, but was rather the outcome of political circumstances in a period of radical political change.

Genres: European History, History, Nonfiction

444 pages, Paperback

First published July 13, 1995