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Age Relations and Cultural Change in Eighteenth-Century England

Crosbie, Barbara

Authors



Abstract

Interactions between age groups were central to major social and cultural developments in eighteenth-century England, and this book serves as a powerful reminder that people lived through not in the past. This book explores the links between age relations and cultural change, using an innovative analytical framework to map the incremental and contingent process of generational transition in eighteenth-century England. The study reveals how attitudes towards age were transformed alongside perceptions of gender, rank and place. It also exposes how shifting age relations affected concepts of authenticity, nationhood, patriarchy, domesticity and progress. The eighteenth century is not generally associated with the formation of distinct generations. This book, therefore, charts new territory as an age cohort in Newcastle upon Tyne is followed from infancy to early adulthood, using their experiences to illuminate a national, and ultimately imperial, pattern of change. The chapters begin in the nurseries and schoolrooms in which formative years were spent and then traverse the volatile terrain of adolescence, before turning to the adult world of fashion and politics. This investigation uncovers the roots of a generational divide that spilled into the political arena during the parliamentary election of 1774. But more than that, it demonstrates that the interactions between age groups were central to major social and cultural developments in the eighteenth century and serves as a powerful reminder of the need to recognise that people lived through not in the past.

Citation

Crosbie, B. (2020). Age Relations and Cultural Change in Eighteenth-Century England. Boydell & Brewer

Book Type Authored Book
Online Publication Date May 31, 2020
Publication Date 2020-05
Deposit Date Dec 16, 2018
Publisher Boydell & Brewer
Series Title Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History
ISBN 9781783275069
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1121909
Publisher URL https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783275069/age-relations-and-cultural-change-in-eighteenth-century-england/