The Penguin Social History of Britain

Jose Harris is Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.

Part 1 Themes and Interpretations: An Overview of British Society, 1870-19I4 - Continuity and change; The impact of Empire; The emergence of class; Individualism and collectivism; From 'Ancient Constitution' to 'Great Society'; The nationalization of culture; Sex and Gender; 'Modernity' and the 'lost domain'; Paradox and plurality; Victorians and Edwardians. Part 2 Demography, Death, and Disease: People and cities; Patterns of fertility; Patterns of mortality; Society, sickness, and medicine. Part 3 Family and Household: The 'Victorian' family; Family size and structure; Domestic economy; Patriarchalism; Motherhood; Childhood; Sexual relations; Family life. Part 4 Property: Perceptions of property; The distribution of property; Aristocratic property; Middle-class property; Working-class property; Property and politics. Part 5 Work: Work and gentility; Structure, skill, and organization; Alienation, leisure, and the work ethic; Industrial relations; Work and the 'working class'; Culture and context. Part 6 Religion: The issue of 'secularization'; The sociology of church attendance; The churches and civic culture; The structure of belief; Religion and society. Part 7 Society and the State: The social bases of the state; The mid-Victorian state; Changing political culture; Contraction and expansion; Finance, bureaucracy, and social policy; Crime, law, and police; Ambiguities of power. Part 8 Society and Social Theory: The problem of 'society'; Atomism, organicism, and social evolution; Historicism and idealism; Social theory and the 'social problem'; The language of race; Perceptions of poverty; Decay and degeneration; Society, liberty, and character: Echoes of Greece and Rome.