Cross-Class Mobility British Empire

Regency England was very different from the world today. Society revolved around social classes, which typically correlated with wealth and family ties. There were many different social classes in the era. The highest class in society was the royal family, consisting of the king, queen, prince, and princess. The next highest class would be the aristocracy. This would include dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons (Ray 37). Knights and baronets were not included in this class. They were considered commoners (Ray 38). The gentry was a very wide class. Land-owning males in the gentry, like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, were called gentlemen (Ray 39; Gao). Ladies were also considered gentry (Ray 12). With all of these different classes, one might say that social classes played a big factor in Regency England society.

The reader gets a rare and exotic understanding of a totally foreign and ancient culture experiencing the growing pains of colonial expansion during the British domination

In the Photograph Album of Cashmere& Ladakh,1886, H.W.B depicts the age of imperialism through his photography of the 1st Batallion East Surrey Regiment of Great Britain. The photos allow one to make observations without any biased inputs such as writings. Using one’s own

The difference in class structures of Victorian England was dependent on the lifestyles and jobs of individuals. The Victorian era of England lasted from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian England hierarchy was divided into three different classes; the upper, middle, and lower class and was reliant of occupational differences. The hierarchy was very rigid and there was little social mobility, because of the fact that normally a person was born into their class and even their future career. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens displays the model of class structure through the character Pip Pirrup. Pip struggles to find his place within the hierarchy. Throughout the novel, Dickens writes about the different classes in England. Pip belongs the working class due to his family and is set to be a blacksmith, but finds himself in the societal shift that occurred in England in the nineteenth century. Pip wants to achieve his great expectations and change the path that his life was going on. He wants create a better life for himself than what he would have had if he followed in the footsteps of his family. Dickens also creates various characters in the different classes to expose the relationship between each class. An individual’s class was a dominant factor in creating an identity. People of the upper classes thought very little of the people “below” them. Throughout his journey, Pip reveals information about how the different social classes lived and how members of each

Mr. Cook makes a strong case in his attempt to understand the causes and contributing factors behind the segregation along race, class and gender lines which were so prevalent in British ruled India, but also strictly observed within Britain and her other colonies. In “Conflicting Ideologies in British India, 1875-1900” he cites factors both specific to India, in particular the suppressed revolt of 1857, and those more external, like the “hardening racism” in Europe. The substantial losses, both financial and in human lives, associated with the revolt of 1857 resulted in a significant decline in trust and an increasing hesitancy to risk “antagonizing Indian sensibilities”. Since the revolt was viewed as retaliation for British attempts to Westernize India, this fearful reluctance to continue along the path previously envisioned by some which ultimately resulted in Britain’s empowerment, modernization and civilizing of the native Indians to a place of independent governance and administration, became less appealing but also served as additional justification for European society’s changing perception of race. The elite Anglicized Indians had not only dared to challenge British authority and administrative processes, but they had dared to utilize their Western teachings to do so. This clearly barbaric application of treasured knowledge, which the British perceived they had bestowed upon the fortunate Indians as a gift, was viewed as further proof of the inability to

After William IV died, his niece, Victoria, became the Queen of England, starting the victorian era. In Victoria’s reign, the British Empire came to cover over ¼ of the world. The Industrial revolution is created during her reign, producing more products available to the common people of England. On the down side, people working in the mill had a hard life.

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Du Bois’ speaks of a ‘veil’ that has hindered his race from living their lives to the fullest potential. This veil has made it seemingly impossible to integrate into the white, mainstream society. Similarly, in “A Passage to India”, E.M Forster describes the story of Dr. Aziz, a native Indian, and his interactions with the imperial British society in his hometown of Chandrapore, India. Dr. Aziz attempts to become friendly with the British, but ends up bringing them on an excursion to the Marabar caves which quickly illuminates the inability of such a bonding experience. In both the Reconstruction Era of America, and in Imperial India, there is a veil that comes it two parts: a physical veil of color and and

The economic affairs of the 16th to 17th century England – a period where England experienced extreme population growth – encouraged the migration of more than half of the English population west across the Atlantic . In addition to its population’s growth, England was amid a civil war and a revolution during 1642-1660, that consequently propagated waves of political and economic refugees, finding their way to the Caribbean, to escape from the nation’s civil conflicts . Taking note of the ways in which dominant European powers – Portugal and Spain – conducted forms of active exploration and exploitation of the New World. Distinctly, for the reasons of, accumulation of land, wealth, and political power through means of exploiting its colonies resources. Virtually, England sought to mimic the Spanish economic success in their own Caribbean exploits. In contrast to the ways in which the Spanish pursued their own economic goals. The English economic success, relied on private companies to carry out commercial and colonial efforts . To emphasize, this meant that private men and companies secured the right from the crown to claim and settle islands in the Caribbean. Notably, these private men and companies’ advantageous socio-economic status, consequently began to formulate the make-up of the social stratification in the English colonies. Where social stratification refers to the persistent patterns of social inequalities within a society. Essentially, the colonies operated on

Victorian-era Londoners were very rich or very poor - there was no “in-between”. These class distinctions are shown in many ways throughout the book, this includes: ‘ Hell’ ( east side ) vs. ‘Heaven’ ( West Side ), Jekyll Vs. Hyde, and Jekyll’s home.

During the Victorian Times in England, everyone was grouped into social classes. This is also known as classism. There were three categories: the upper class =, middle class, and the lower class. Problems had occurred do to classism. Class war fair still exists to a degree in todays society.

Wealth served a major role between the classes and placement of citizens within them. The queen or the monarch was the richest and flaunted her wealth with items and luxuries such as jewelry and gold (“The Social Structure in Elizabethan England”). The

For the past few weeks I have been sorting through the collection of postcards. I selected the ones that had to with people on the street of India. I find it interesting that this collection has large potion of people represented from lower classes. My curiosity also orientates around the way in which India was being portrayed to the West.

The Victorian Era consists of three groups of the upper, middle, and lower class that differ in what and how they ate. The upper class had more etiquette and availability in what they ate compared to what the other classes had. The middle class were able to eat with what they made or bought, but not as much as the upper class had. The lower class had only a limited choice of what they ate. Although divided by separate groups, all classes had the same format of what to eat depending on time; starting with breakfast, then lunch, and lastly dinner.

The elder Cannadine’s imperial experience in India certainly left a profound influence on the author, who used his father’s recollections to piece together a boy’s superficial idea of empire (184). Despite his personal familiarity with the British Empire, Cannadine asserts that he “was not drenched in

E.M. Forster’s classic novel “A Passage to India” tells the story of a young doctor, Dr. Aziz, and his interactions with the British citizens who are residing in India during the time of the British Raj. Throughout the novel, the reader gets many different viewpoints on the people and the culture of India during this point in history. The reader sees through the eyes of the Indian people primarily through the character of Dr. Aziz, and the perceptions of the British through the characters of Mr. Fielding, Adela Quested, and Mrs. Moore. Through the different characters, and their differing viewpoints, the reader can see that Forster was creating a work that expressed a criticism that he held of the behavior of the British towards their Indian subjects.