Queen Victoria of England ruled from 1837 to 1901, making her the second longest reigning monarch in England. During her reign, an entire era was coined in her name by historians. To what is considered the "golden age" of England, the Victorian period brought a time of improvements in society, great achievement, and revolutionary ideas that paved the way for modern times.
Like today, the Victorian society functioned on three main classes: upper class, middle class and working class. The upper class consisted of the wealthy, nobles, and anyone with relations to the royal family. These people could afford the life of luxury because depending on who you were, your family probably owned a major mining or shipping business. People in this class saw many privileges like access to phenomenal education and could import expensive goods from different countries.
One class that was growing each day was the middle class. These citizens lived in suitable conditions and many owned smaller but vast businesses like tailor shops. Multiple businesses led to the increase of job opportunities. These opportunities for jobs is what helped the middle class grow during this period.
The final and bottom class is the working class. People in this class lived in poverty and sometimes were even homeless. Categories to describe the working class were skilled workers and unskilled workers. The skilled worker would be offered a job specialized to his skill, but if
the person was unskilled, he could
The middle class saw benefits from the new era and seized the opportunity. The middle class allowed the working class to lift them into the upper class by creating many jobs in their factories and businesses. The middle class
The upper, middle, and lower class. The upper class streamed from the aristocrats of earlier time periods. The middle and lower classes were the working classes. The middle class however had jobs with better pay, a better standard of living ,and better sanitation then the lower class but still had struggles with day to day necessities. The lower class were very poor and had difficult lives. Many children worked in the lower class. This relates to A Brave New World as the lower classes were not focused on in society very often, and had difficult jobs and less access to resources from their conception, this caused the lower classes to in general have low
* Working class: The lowest category and lived poorly and worked for long amounts for limited amounts of money and resources.
The following class, which was by far the largest, was the middle class. (Population and Social Rank) This included owners of small stores and businesses, small farmers, and craftsmen. (1727: Colonial America) They were mostly educated, and lived successful lives. They also had very high moral standards and some were deeply religious. (Population and Social Rank) Most middle class men could vote, but few held public office, as the gentry used their wealth and influence for political control. Middle class women ran self-sufficient households, and made their own clothes, candles, cheese and soap. Few were educated. (1727: Colonial America)
Since they were factory owners they had leverage above the lower class being able to control what goes on in the factories. They also had enough wealth to support their big families and live comfortably. In Document 4, it shows a middle class family. They appear to be clean , well-dressed, and healthy. Document 6 is a cartoon of the typical middle class men dressed in business attire. This is most likely a depiction of a middle class man going to his high paying job or searching for one in the city. The middle class sometimes got wealthy enough to interact or even become a part of the upper class. They were granted the right to vote and to even be on parliament just as the upper class
The middle class mostly lived away from the central city, so that they could stay away from the crime. American industrialization expanded for them and they could be doctors, lawyers, engineers, managers, social workers, architects, and teachers. Not many families in the working class could afford an actual house, so most lived in crowded tenements. In most working class families, everyone had a job, even the children. Also, many women got a job outside of the home.
Since the beginning of time there has been separation of economic classes; the poor, middle class, working class, and upper class. Most people are considered or identifies as middle class or the working class.
The middle class consisted of moderately successful merchants, shopkeepers, and accountants. The skilled blue collar workers had little freedom to negotiate and their working conditions deteriorated markedly
The lowest is the lower class. The people in this category don’t have jobs, are homeless, and don’t have good medical care. Next, there is the working class. The working class contains the people who have minimum education and who work in a factory or use manual labor. Examples of people in this job are dishwashers or cashiers.
One Victorian sentiment was that a civilized individual could be determined by her/his appearance. This notion was readily adopted by the upper classes and, among other things, helped shape their views of the lower classes, who certainly appeared inferior to them. In regards to social mobility, members of the upper classes may have (through personal tragedy or loss) often moved to a lower-class status, but rarely did one see an individual move up from the abysmal lower class. Although poverty could be found almost anywhere in Victorian London (one could walk along a street of an affluent neighborhood, turn the corner, and find oneself in an area of depravity and decay), most upper-class
Middle class: They engaged in common economic deals of society, including conspicuous consumption for substances comfort as their earnings increased during the market revolution. considered themselves as self-made men based on a hard work ethic and moral. They held a strong belief in public education.
This is the lowest class in the social class stratification. While the majority of the working class now live reasonably healthy and prosperous lives, a low minority do not. These people cannot work. They include the long-term unemployed and the disabled and chronically ill. They are in effect, shut out of much of what most people can attain. This group of
Upper class wealth was inherited and servants were plentiful. Upper and middle class women stayed at home while working class women had to go to work and families spent less time together. Children were part of the working class and expected to work long, dangerous hours in factories, and other sectors, for far less remuneration than adults (Dahrendorf, 1959). The working and middle class benefitted most with a generally better standard of living than existed prior to the industrial revolution
Meanwhile, the middle-class was increasing in number and also power, and began to lead Britain’s core industries like mining of coal or exporting raw
The next class during the Victorian Era was known as the middle class. This was the class to which novelist H.G. Wells was a part of. The middle class consisted of factory owners, lawyers, engineers, merchants, traders and other professionals (Bishal, 2008). While the individuals within this class received more money and more rights as citizens, they were still considered to be of no importance compared to those of the higher class.