The Emergence of the Lower Middle Class in Britain: A Discussion

Abstract

The neglect of the development of the British lower middle class by historians is unfortunate but not altogether unexpected. The motivation, guided by a political enthusiasm and concern for historical breadth that were inseparable, was laudable but may in the long run have proved inhibiting. In other countries, most notably France, a concern for theory and social analysis in history has driven social historians to examine the social process as a whole in order to explain its parts. Charles Booth, in his Religious Influences series, firmly separated the lower middle class on the one hand from artisans on the other. The small retailer witnessed a similar process of concentration. New forms of retail operation were a striking feature of the period, and have been presented by Charles Wilson as evidence against the view that innovation was absent from British economic life. The fast-growing white collar element in the lower middle class was more significant in Britain, certainly to contemporaries.