English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980England was the world's first great industrial nation yet, paradoxically, the English have never been comfortable with industrialism. Drawing on a wide array of sources, Martin Wiener explores the English ambivalence towards modern industrial society. His work reveals a pervasive middle- and upper-class frame of mind hostile to industrialism and economic growth. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, this hostility shaped a broad spectrum of cultural expression, including literature, journalism, and architecture, as well as social, historical and economic thought. In this new edition Wiener reflects on the original debate surrounding his work and examines the historiography of the past twenty years. |
Contents
The Janus face of modern English culture | 3 |
accommodation and absorption | 11 |
A counterrevolution of values | 27 |
The English way of life? | 41 |
The wrong path? | 81 |
Introduction | 96 |
Other editions - View all
English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980 Martin J. Wiener No preview available - 2004 |
English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980 Martin J. Wiener No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
American ancient argued aristocracy Arnold attitudes Baldwin became British Industry Business in Britain businessmen Cambridge capitalist character Church cities civilization competition Conservatism Conservative country house countryside critics decline Dickens E. M. Forster E. P. Thompson economic growth economists Edwardian elite engineering England London English culture enterprise Essays G. K. Chesterton gentleman gentlemanly gentrification gentry Germany Gothic Hardy historian human ideal industrial capitalism industrial revolution industrialists J. B. Priestley J. H. Plumb John Kipling Labour land leaders less Liberal living London material ment middle class nineteenth century nomic novel observed outlook Oxford party past political production professional profit progress public schools Quoted R. H. Tawney radical rural England Ruskin rustic social socialist SPAB spirit Stanley Baldwin style Tawney things Thomas Hardy tion Tory towns tradition twentieth century universities urban values Victorian village wealth William Morris writing York