An Economic Approach to Class and Gender Formation - Coursework Example

An Economic Approach to and Gender Formation: The Inescapable Effects of the Industrial Revolution The concept of the formation or even the continuing existence of class and gender consciousness is something that is not easy to fathom—it is even more difficult to explain than to understand as it involves a discussion of numerous varying factors that have been unavoidably interwoven. Hence, the question of the importance of certain factors—whether economic or cultural—in the class and gender consciousness in 19th century England is complex to answer. However, if it must be done, the most important factor should be viewed as the most common factor that has the greatest effect—something that is ubiquitous and inescapable. With this underlying premise, it can be argued that the economic conditions during that time due to the Industrial revolution perpetrated the spread of a unique kind of class and gender consciousness. However, it must be noted that this in no way undermines the role and importance of other factors. This argument does not state that the only factor responsible for the changing class and gender consciousness in 19th century England is purely economic in nature. Rather, the economic condition during that period is the most important determinant in class and gender consciousness due to it being inescapable; and because it is inescapable, it became the ground from where the cultural approach—which basically states that English ideologies and rhetoric are more significant in the construction of class and gender identities—sprouted. What the economic condition did was that it aggravated other factors, such as language and rhetoric, and this prompted the “making of the English working class,”1 as well as the “sexual crisis.”2 This paper will show, through notable writings that aim to explain the Industrial Revolution and the resulting class and gender consciousness through the cultural approach, how the economic factors surrounding these explanations cannot be avoided. These are the evidences that this argument will use in proving the premise that the economic situation at that time is the most important factor as it is both ubiquitous and inescapable. Athough these readings use the cultural approach, they still could not help but highlight the underlying reason for these experiences and rhetoric—and that is, the economic condition of that time, whether in the provinces or cities, became the set that staged the changes in familial and societal relationships. The Industrial Revolution In order to better understand the economic conditions of 19th century England, the Industrial Revolution must be discussed as it is the event that propelled the changes in the way people lived back then. In order to fully comprehend the effect of the Industrial Revolution, it must be noted that the British depended mostly on agriculture and handicrafts as ways of living before the 19th century. Laborers cultivated the “common land,” producing much of what they need in addition to their wages; while manufacturers then were the spinners and weavers—husbands and wives who work together to earn a living.3 Pack horses were mainly used as a way of transporting the goods to the market.4 With this type of working conditions, it cannot be denied that although England can be viewed then as a developing economy “with significant amounts of small-scale manufacturing activity,”5 economic growth during this period can best be described as slow and gradual. All of a sudden, with new discoveries and inventions, topbilled by the steam engine and the sewing jenny, laborers and workmen became employees of manufacturing factories. Gone were the days when they would simply work at their own pace and earn what they need through the use of their hands—owning the products that they produced, as well as the means of production.6 With the invention of the steam engine and the establishment of factories, work as it was known before was almost eradicated. Consequently, the workers and journeymen who were before considered as apprentices to the master—them becoming masters in the future—became the employees of the few wealthy men who took a gamble in buying steam engines and setting up factories, as not all men had the financial ability to buy these expensive engines and put up their own factories.7 This trend grew to such breadth that the demand for these products increased, and with it, the need for more workers and factories. These inventions perpetrated a rapid change in the eonomy, as well as in the occupational structure of England, which then became the backdrop for a change in class and gender relationships. Hence, the term “revolution” as it pertains to “a change which comes so rapidly that life cannot promptly adjust itself to the new conditions, a change that breaks down the old order with much confusion and suffering.”8 Class Consciousness With the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution came the consequences of rapid economic change. “The population, like the system it belongs is new; but is hourly increasing in breadth and strength.”9 The rapidity of the economic change, from being apprentices and masters to becoming employees, created a whole new set of relationships—both at work and at home. Indeed, the economic condition during the 19th century did not just engender new ways of earning a living, more importantly; it created class consciousness that were not present before. Thompson defines class consciousness as “the consciousness of an identity of interests as between these diverse groups of working people and as against the interests of other classes.”10 Where before, artisans, booksellers, printers, saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, and the like were considered to be the nucleus of the labor movement and were not entirely classified as a class11—more like they did not differentiate themselves from their masters as they knew they would soon be one—the rise of the factories created a group of individuals composed of wage earners as opposed to the employers or the owners of the factories. These factory workers—it does not matter what level of skills they have or from what industry they belong to—became grouped together and collectively viewed as the “lower orders.”12 This then became the working class. The Working Class Although Thompson warned against placing too much emphasis on the effect of the new economic structure on the making of the working class and belittling the impacts of social traditions, political relationships and personal experience, it cannot be denied that the rhetorics and language that became crucial in the formation of the working class and the resulting class consciousness are all grounded on the economic conditions at that time. The ““growing gulf” between the rich and the poor”13 became one of the significant factors that made the people become conscious of from which class they belong to. In fact, “by 1820, it was a commonplace to attribute basic social and political differences to economic divisions of interest between mill owners and workers, factory hands and handloom weavers.”14 Furthermore, the laws that protect the wage system that were supposed to protect the workers from unjust pay and benefits were in actuality enacted “to protect the employer against high wages.”15 This made the workers, according to Thompson, as the “exploited.”16 Thompson’s idea of the “working class structure of feeling”17 that results from the overall experience of being oppressed, working incessantly from morning until night just to be able to earn a pittance and the feeling of being cheated of their hard-earned labor and wanting to organize themselves in order to fight the system enabled the working class to make itself.18 However sound and sensible Thompson’s argument that these experiences prompted the creation of the working class, it still cannot be hidden—even from his writing—that it all happened because of and against the backdrop of the rapidly changing economy. the economic conditions of 19th century England, therefore, was the most signifiant factor that contributed to the creation of the working class and the propagation of class consciousness. Gender Inequality With the abolition of the tandem of spinning and weaving wool made at home by the husband and the wife and the rise of the factory system, the women became the men’s partner in earning wages as “both partners had to contribute to the family’s maintenance.”19 This is much like the relationship that husbands and wives have today of shared responsibility when it comes to earning an income for the family. However, during 19th century England, gender equality and “feminine ambition”20 were still an inconceivable notion for most of the population. In fact, women then were viewed as possible wives depending on their skills and capabilities—the earnings that they can contribute to the raising of a family.21 Moreover, patriarchal domination is still the norm, with the wife submitting to the husband’s commands and the husband taking it for granted that the wife must and should obey him; women then were considered as second class citizens whose status was definitely lower than men’s.22 The replacing of the Law of Master and Servant by the Employer and Workman Act of 187523 is representative of the change taking place in both men and women’s lives. Journeymen and apprentices who were robbed of their rights to become masters of their trade wallowed in their misery through drinking in pubs and engaging the services of prostitutes. They become even more depressed when they are confronted with the fact that their wives, instead of just helping them in the “family business,” were already earning wages.24 On the other hand, wives are becoming more independent as they go about managing the tasks at home and at the factories, making them criticize their husbands for their misuse of hard-earned money at pubs.25 The boldness that wives have gained due to their significant contribution to the fanily income is then viewed as the “struggle for the breeches”26 or the question of who wears the pants in the family. The Struggle for the Breeches Although it can justifiably be said that there were little to no change in gender equality back then, with women “experiencing a lifetime of personal subrodination in private homes,”27 many women show—whether in their subtle manipulation of their husbands, their daring to go to the magistrate to report abuse and their chastising of their husbands for squandering money away28—that they are beginning to feel significant and powerful. Whereby before, they just accept their place in the home and in society, they have begun to know their true value and stand up for themselves. However, society in general is still not ready for this kind of change. This is evidenced by the warning of Henry Greenhalgh Formby to her daughter that “ambition and the desire of disctinction in woman [is] injurious to the grace and delicacy of the female character.”29 Again, the changes in gender consciousness, however small they were, were brought about by the economic situation at that time. If the Industrial Revolution had not occurred and the factory system was not established, it is highly possible that these gradual changes in gender consciousness would not have been felt in 19th century England. This does not mean that a change in gender consciousness would not have occurred at all, as it is in man’s nature to evolve; but rather, it would have come at a much later time. Conclusion It cannot be denied that the Industrial Revolution affected all of England, with maybe very few exceptions in the most rural areas. It was ubiquitous and inescapable. It laid the groundwork for the founding of the factory system and the abolition of the journeyman-master relationship. It paved the way for a new breed of workers—workers who, in their shared beliefs and experiences, were able to make themselves into a distinct working class. The working class included women who also had no choice but to go work in the factories to be able to share in the financial responsibility of the family. Becoming wage earners gave many women the strength and will to stand up for themselves; although society was not ready for this kind of change. The combined experiences during this time perpetrated a lot of changes, most significant in class and gender formation, as shown here. However, although Thompson, Clark, Davidoff and Lewis showed that these individual rhetorics and experiences combined to create the working class and propagate gender consciousness among the women, they have unavoidably shown in their writings the common denominator behind these dynamic cultural forces. There was not a single writing that did not make mention of the economic situation at that time and how it had brought about significant changes. The ideologies, behavior, rhetoric and language that make up the cultural approach all happened because of the effects of the economic upheaval brought about by the Industrial Revolution. It is only logical to conclude that the economic changes that engulfed 19th century England is the most important factor in British class and gender formation. References Briggs, Asa. Victorian Cities. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1965. Clark, Anna. The Struggle for the Breeches: Gender and the Making of the British Working Class. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Crafts, N. F. R. “Industrial Revolution in England and France: Some Thoughts on the Question “Why was England First?”” In The Economics of the Industrial Revolution, edited by Joel Mokyr, 119-134. Place: Rowman and Allanheld, year. Davidoff, Leonore. “Mastered for Life: seervant and Wife in Victorian and Edwardian England” in Worlds Between: Historical perspectives on Gender and Class, edited by Leonore Davidoff. New York: Routledge, 1995. Ely, Richard T. and Wicker, George Ray. Elementary Principles of Economics: Together with a Short Sketch of Economic History. London: Macmillan &Amp; Co., Ltd., 1909. Lewis, Brian. The Middlemost and the Milltowns: Borgeois Culture and Politics in Early Industrial England. California: Stanford Univesity Press, 2001. Thompson, Edward Palmer. “The Making of the English Working Class” In The Essential: E. P. Thomspon, edited by Dorothy Thompson, 9-29. New York: The New York Press, 2001. Read More