Home and Family Life in Victorian England: Reflections on urban middle-class and working-class relationshsips

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2.0, Leuphana Universitat Luneburg, 22 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The Victorian Age, referring to Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to1901, was a period of drastic political, economic and social change. The impacts of the continuing industrialization affected people’s lives to a great extent. Different occupational patterns as well as renewed social and moral values emerged and shaped the society of this time. The family cannot be considered as a single unit since its interaction with its social environment cannot be denied. Hence, people’s home and family life also underwent a radical change. Yet, not all of England’s citizens were equally affected as the prevailing sharp separation into social classes brought about different prerequisites and chances to cope with the developments. Urban middle-class and working-class members were most susceptible to outside influences, and the purpose of my studies is therefore to analyze and compare their family lives during the Victorian era.