239930 Industrialization as a Revolutionary Process (S) (SoSe 2013)

In the century between roughly 1770 and 1870, British society transformed beyond recognition as a corollary of the economic dynamics and technological advances that made industrialization possible and were in turn strengthened by it. This course will focus on the manifold ways in which people coped with the social transformation of Britain in this period. Our investigation will comprise topics such as changes in the gender division of labour, the importance of kinship and neighbourhood support networks in the sprawling industrial towns attracting large numbers of migrants from rural areas, changes in familial relations, and the factory as a workplace requiring new types of behaviour. Throughout, industrialization will emerge as a deeply divisive development, warmly welcomed by some, while deeply abhorred by others.

Literaturangaben

Introductory reading:
Friedrich Engels: The Condition of the Working Class in England, Oxford, 1958