Family Fortunes : Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850 (Women in Culture and Society Series)

Rating:
Summary: Summary of Family Fortunes
Review: Family Fortunes focuses on the rise and influence of the middle class in late eighteenth and early ninteenth century England. The book is divided into three distinct parts. The first section centers on "Religion and Ideology"; here, authors look at fractions among Protestant sects during their time period, and the mututally reinforcing ideas of domesticity and religion. The second section is called "Economic Structure and Opportunity." It begins with a discussion of middle class attitudes towards property, especially as it effects providing income for a family. The other discussion in this section looks at men and women's respective roles in the economy, focusing on men's action and women as the "hidden investment." The final section, "Everday Life: Gender in Action," looks at marriage, the respective roles of motherhood and fatherhood, defintion and importance of the home, how gender was registered and finally, middle class influcen in the reform-minded public sphere. Family Fortunes is a big, thick, informative book which is well worth reading for people interested in the rise of the middle class, and social or religious history. Though clearly scholarly in focus it is relatively accessible, and the use many different textual sources helps to illustrate some of the more dense parts of Davidoff and Hall's arguments.