Did Industrial Revolution Effect The Social Class And Family Structures Of The Regency Period?

Edmund Burke once said," Make revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions." This comical yet straightforward quote can be related to a time in history called the Industrial Revolution. Throughout history there has been a political, economical, social and cultural revolution. These revolutions has had complex and long lasting impacts on people’s lives, one revolution that has forever changed history is the Industrial Revolution. The term revolution is defined as a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving. The Industrial revolution was a cultural revolution that impacted people’s lives forever.

In late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England there was a sort of moral ‘code’ of behavior and standards that are to be maintained by the middle and upper classes of society. Austen realistically mirrors this ‘code’ through the characters and plots of her novels while showing that social flexibility was narrow and class boundaries were strict. The topics of class stringency and social mobility are important areas in Jane Austen’s literature. We begin to see that Austen is not a revolutionary as she supports and preserves the morals and customs of societies hierarchy. However she often encourages and backs the emergence of new wealth permitting greater social mobility. In Austen’s world the naval and ‘tradesmen’ professions

Jane Austen was a Georgian era author who was best known for her novels that commented on social issues and class, and Northanger Abbey is no exception. Austen’s social commentary is apparent in this novel’s plot, as the reader follows a seventeen-year-old protagonist, Catherine Morland, as she matures and forms intimate relationships with fellow characters in an England town called Bath. Marriage between characters in the novel is heavily based on wealth, and because of England’s unstable economy at the time, marrying into wealth meant maintaining a high social class and economic stability for the characters. The importance of economic prosperity and social rank heavily influenced marriage in 19th century England, and this idea bourgeoisie classism and marrying for wealth is contradicted by Austen in her novel, Northanger Abbey.

During the time frame of the Industrial Revolution there were 3 main social classes: The upper class, the middle class, and the lower class or the working class.

The question, "What class are you in?", was a very easy question to answer in the Regency era, but now, not so much. In the Regency era, social class was very easily defined and separated. In order of highest to lowest, the classes were set up as the Monarch, Royalty, Aristocracy, Gentry, Middle Class, Artisans and Tradespeople, Servants, Laboring Poor, and Paupers. It was very hard to move up in class and there was a clear distinction between them. On the other hand, in today 's world sociologists debate how to separate people into classes, let alone strongly define them. Some sociologists say that there is no such thing as class in this modern world. Regardless of opinion, social structure is much looser today than it was in the Regency era. Social structure has definitely changed from the Regency era, where the classes were strictly kept and separated, to now, where class has many different definitions and separations, and this change was a change for the better.

Although Highbury was just a small population town, the particular social structure was reflecting this type of class structure about Britain. For instance, the love amongst Robert Martin and Harriet was not acceptable in Emma’s eyes. Robert Martin was a successful respectable farmer; Harriet is a friend of Emma and illegitimate of a tradesman nevertheless she received well cared and properly educated. So Emma couldn’t agree while Mr. Martin proposed marriage to Harriet, subsequently Emma Convinced Harriet to Refused to associate with Robert Martin. And try to match Harriet and Mr. Elton who was considered as higher rank of society status, young priest with record of great educating. In Emma describe of Mr. Martin “he may be the richest of the two, but he is undoubtedly her inferior as to rank in society.”(Emma, Chapter7, and p.33) it is clear that time, marriage most depended on and compromised with the values of their social status.

The mass transit and electricity affected the urban life because the danger level started to rise. The danger level rising made parents and people more aware of what the people around them were doing. Pollution played a role in the urban life by having vehicles and transportation polluting the air with the fumes of the vehicles. Pollution can also be people leaving their trash on the streets and on the busses, planes and other transportation types. The trash can be invented for a reason and people should be responsible for their belongings.

At first, Austen reveals the tensions between the working class and the upper class and emphasizes the rigid social structure that existed in nineteenth century London. The rigidity of the social structure can be attributed to the fact that “no class exists for itself but is bound by reciprocated rights and duties to classes above and below” (Kilger 359). Although the classes are separate and very distinct from each other, they still all depend on one another to thrive and succeed. However, this was definitely not the case during the

The Industrial revolution started in Britain around 1750 and by 1850 it will make Great Britain the wealthiest country in the world. The revolution also spread to other European countries and the New World. Both Germany and United States will surpass Britain in the next fifty years. What was the effect of The Industrial Revolution on the working class?

A main factor in the storyline is the way the writer portrays society's attitude to poverty in the 18th century. The poor people were treated tremendously different to higher classed people. A lot of people were even living on the streets. For example, "He picked his way through the hordes of homeless

The industrial revolution, contrary to many beliefs, was a negative for the world. Although there were many positives, the environmental damage and the division of middle class from the lower class created many short and long term negatives. The amount of pollution and new emergence of new disease was partly caused by the invention of the Steam train. The steam train, invented in 1803 by Richard Trevithick, was viewed as an overall positive but came with many hidden negatives. The environment trembled under the steam and the population explosion created commercial train lines which people used to get into the city.

In the brief years of the Regency Era from 1811 to 1820, the social scheme was revolutionized by elegant balls, intermingling prominent families, and inevitable drama that spread quickly throughout the towns. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice presents a rare fusing of two socially indecent girls and two wealthily distinguished young men that everyone in town would be talking about for months. Wealth is the most significant theme in this period, and Austen challenges it well with love as its rival. Through the character of Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tests the Regency notion of marriage and social classes in order to reveal that social hierarchies cannot overcome real love.

The Industrial Revolution changed the ways by how the world produced its goods. It was the era when the use of power-driven machines was developed. It also changed our societies from a mainly agricultural society to one in which industry and manufacturing was in control. This had many effects on people’s lives.

The Regency time period was an era of great wealth. Both men and women worked vigorously to become part of the upper class. Marrying for upper class women was the only way to gain a source of income (Hall). Women would even change their way of life to be able to marry into wealth. A truth universally acknowledged, that a single main possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, said Mrs. Bennett (Hall). In the Regency time period, wealth played a huge role in both men and women’s lives

The novel is set during the Victorian era and explores the social norms, beliefs and values of popular Victorian society. The setting alternates between the east European Transylvania which represents the world as it was before the scientific and Industrial Revolution, and Victorian London where the effects of science and technological progress are evident in the social and intellectual zeitgeist of the period.