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Inkster, Ian, Hill, Jeff, Griffin, C. and Rowbotham, J., eds. (2000) The golden age: essays in British economic and social history, 1850-1870. Aldershot: Ashgate.

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Abstract

In 1850 the Industrial Revolution came to an end. In 1851 the Great Exhibition illustrated to the whole world the supremacy of industrial England. For the next twenty years Britain reigned supreme. From around 1870 Britain began to decline. Britain is now a second rate power with strong memories of its former supremacy. The above five sentences summarise a common view of the sequencing of Britain’s rise and relative fall, a stereotype that is challenged and modified in the essays of The Golden Age. By concentrating on central aspects of social and industrial change authors expose the underpinnings of supremacy, its unsung underside, its tarnished gold. Major themes cover industrial and technological change, social institutions and gender relations in a period during which industry and industrialism were equally celebrated and nurtured. Against this background it is difficult to argue for any sudden decline of energy, assets or institution, nor for any significant move from an industrial society to one in which a hearty manufacturing was replaced by commerce and land, sensibility and artifice.

Item Type: Edited Book or Journal Volume
SOAS Departments & Centres: Legacy Departments > Faculty of Law and Social Sciences > Centre of Taiwan Studies
ISBN: 9780754601142
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315239330
Date Deposited: 25 Nov 2013 16:29
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/17677

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