Imagining the Middle Class

Why and how did the British people come to see themselves as living in a society centred around a middle class? The answer provided by Professor Wahrman challenges most prevalent historical narratives: the key to understanding changes in conceptualizations of society, the author argues, lies not in underlying transformations of social structure, in this case industrialization, which supposedly created and empowered the middle class, but rather in changing political configurations. Firmly grounded in a close reading of an extensive array of sources, and supported by comparative perspectives on France and America, the book offers a nuanced model for the interplay between social reality, politics, and the languages of class. For all those interested in the question whether class is best seen as a category of special and economic history or as an artefact of political discourse, this book should be useful reading.