Manners, Morals, and Class in England, 1774-1858

Book excerpt: Drawing upon many disciplines, this book analyses English social and occupational behavioural ideals from the courtesy book's demise in 1774 to the Medical Act's passage in 1858. In the intervening years, English men and women displayed an almost obsessive concern with fashioning morally sound, well-mannered individuals. Conduct and etiquette books testify to this concern, as do professional behavioural norms sanctioned by law for the first time with the Medical Act of 1858. Dr Morgan uses a wealth of sources including novels, memoirs, satirical prints and portraits, to explore why an urgency about reforming manners and morals existed at this particular time. In addition to providing amusing anecdotes and illustrations, she presents a subtle and ingenious argument that overturns traditional thinking about class and social change in early-industrial England. Her book is an original contribution to a growing body of literature challenging the notion that marked distinctions existed either between classes or between the pre-industrial and industrial worlds.