History 6395 Production, Consumption and Reproduction-Great Britain 1688-1914

Readings in British Economic and Social History

Instructor: Karl Ittmann

Email Kittmann@jetson.uh.edu.

530 AH, ext 33102

Office Hours T, 1-2pm, TH 4-5pm and by appointment

Reading List

Anna Clark, The Struggle for the Breeches

Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes

Pat Hudson, The Industrial Revolution

Lawrence Stone, Family Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800

Martin Wiener, English culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit

This class will examine three interrelated topics: production, consumption and reproduction in Great Britain from 1689 to 1914. Each student will prepare a 20-25 page historiographic essay on a topic in British social history of his or her choosing to be selected in consultation with the instructor. Comparative topics are allowed and can be structured to fit particular geographic or topical interests. Grades will be determined by the following formula, Class participation and presentation 50%, essay 50%.

Schedule of Classes

Week 1 January 18 Introduction

Week 2 January 25 War, Empire and Commerce

H.V. Bowen, War and British Society

Joseph Inikori, "Slavery and the Development of Industrial Capitalism in England", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18(1), 1987, 79-101.

Patrick O'Brien and Stanley Engerman, "Exports and the Growth of the British Economy from the Glorious Revolution to the Peace of Amiens," in Barbara Solow, Slavery and the Rise of the Atlantic System, 177-209.

Patrick O'Brien, "The Political Economy of British Taxation 1660-1815," Economic History Review, 41(1) 1988 1-32.

David Richardson, "The Slave Trade, Sugar, and British Economic Growth, 1748-1776", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18(1), 1987, 103-133.

Brinley Thomas, "The First Atlantic Economy, 1700-76", in Thomas, The Industrial Revolution and the Atlantic Economy, 34-59.

J.T. Ward, "The industrial revolution and British imperialism, 1750-1850," Economic History Review, 47(1), 1994, 44-65.

Week 3 February 1 Commerce and Consumption Before the Industrial Revolution

M. Finn, "Men's things: masculine possession in the consumer revolution," Social History, 25(2), 2000, 133-155.

Paul Glennie, "Consumption, Consumerism and Urban Form: Historical Perspectives," Urban Studies, 35 (5-6), 1998, 927-951 (available online from ProQuest)

Carol Shammas, "Changes in Anglo-American Consumption from 1550 to 1800," in John Brewer and Roy Porter, Consumption and the World of Goods, 177-205.

Woodruff Smith, "Complications of the Commonplace: Tea, Sugar and Imperialism," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 23(2), 1992, 259-278.

John Styles, "Manufacturing, consumption and design in eighteenth-century England," in John Brewer and Roy Porter, Consumption and the World of Goods, 527-554.

Week 4 February 8 Was there an Industrial Revolution?

Pat Hudson, The Industrial Revolution

Joel Mokyr, "Has the Industrial Revolution Been Crowded Out", Explorations in Economic History, 24(3), 1987, 293-319.

NFR Crafts, "British Economic Growth, 1700-1850: Some Difficulties of Interpretation," Explorations in Economic History, 24(3), 1987, 245-68.

Jeffery Williamson, "Why was British economic growth so slow during the Industrial Revolution?" Journal of Economic History, 44, 1984, 687-712.

Week 5 February 15 The Standard of Living Debate

NFC Crafts, "Some Dimensions of the 'Quality of Life' During the British Industrial Revolution," Economic History Review, 50(4), 1997, 617-639.

Charles Feinstein, "Pessimism Perpetuated" Journal of Economic History, 58(3), 1998 625-656.

Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries, "Old questions, New data and Alternative Perspectives," Journal of Economic History, 52(4), 1992, 849-880.

P. Lindert and J Williamson, English Workers' Living Standards During the Industrial Revolution,", Economic History Review, 36(1), 1983, 1-25.

Joel Mokyr, "Is There Still Life in the Pessimist Case? Consumption During the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic History, 48(1), 1988, 69-92

Simon Szreter and Graham Mooney, "Urbanization, mortality and the standard of living debate" Economic History Review, 51(1), 1998, 84-112.

E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, 189-349.

Week 6 February 22 Did England Decline?

Martin Weiner, English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit

B. Elbaum and William Lazonick, "An Institutional Perspective on British Decline," Journal of Economic History, 44(2), 1984, 567-583.

D. McCloskey, "Enterprise in Late Victorian Britain,", in McCloskey, Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain, 55-135.

Tom Nichols, "Wealth Making in 19^th century and early 20^th century Britain," Business History, 41(1), 1999, 16-36.

W.D. Rubinstein, "The Victorian Middle Classes: Wealth, Occupation and Geography," Economic History Review, 30(4), 1977, 602-623.

Week 7 February March 1 The Modern Family

Stone, Family Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800

Christopher Hill, "Sex, Marriage and the Family in England," Economic History Review, 31(3), 1978, 450-463.

Week 8 March 8 The Bourgeois Family

Davidoff and Hall, Family Fortunes

March 15 Spring Break No class

Week 9 March 22 The Working Class Family

Clark, The Struggle for the Breeches

Ellen Ross, "'Fierce Questions and Taunts': Married Life in Working-Class London, 1870-1914", Feminist Studies, 8(3), 1982, 575-601.

Week 10 March 29 Middle Class Consumption in the Nineteenth Century

Lori Loeb , Consuming Angels

Erika Rapport, "'The Hall of Temptation': Gender, Politics and the Construction of the Department Store in Late Victorian London," Journal of British Studies, 35(1), 1996, 58-83.

Week 11 April 5 Working-Class Consumption

John Benson, "Working Class Consumption, Saving and Investment in England and Wales, 1851-1991," Journal of Design History, 9(2), 1996, 87-99.

Charles Feinstein, "A New Look at the Cost of Living, 1870-1914," in New perspectives on the late Victorian economy, ed. James Foreman-Peck, 151-179

Paul Johnson, "Conspicuous Consumption and Working-Class Culture in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 38, 1988, 27-42.

John Walton, "Fish and Chips and the British Working Class, 1870-1930," Journal of Social History, 23(2), 1989, 243-266.

Gareth Stedman Jones, "Working-class culture and working-class politics in London, 1870-1900," in Languages of Class.