Context (Edwardian Britain)

The Class System

ENVIRONMENT

The upper classes often had luxurious stately homes in the country to escape the poverty of the cities, but for the lower classes it was rare to travel outside of your city or village.

Poverty was extreme in both the cities and the countryside.

There was a huge distinction between the upper and lower classes in almost every way. The upper classes had plenty of money to spare, whereas the lower classes could barely afford food. Lower class families often had many children to increase the number of people who could work for a wage. Often a whole family would sleep in one or two rooms. Hygiene and sanitation was available to the upper classes, but the lower classes lived in disease-riddles conditions.

WOMEN

Life was hard for lower class women. Unlike the upper class, who could rely on marrying and being supported by their husbands wealth. Many lower class women needed to rely on work to support themselves. The work available to them were the lowest-paid and lowest-skilled, as many women had no education.

Unmarried women were excluded from society. They were vulnerable and often lived in total poverty. If an unmarried working class women like Eva got pregnant, she wouldn’t have many options available. Many risked backstreet abortions rather than facing the stigma (negative beliefs) of having a child out of marriage. Many working class women were forced into prostitution because there was no other choice.

A lot of upper class men exploited their serving girls and female staff by having sex with them. Many of these women and girls became pregnant by them, their only hope was that the father would marry them, but this rarely happened.

STEREOTYPES

The fear of the poor began in the Victorian era, the upper classes were convinced that the lower classes were all thieves, criminals and sinners, who would pollute them and threaten the purity of the nation. Many rich people were convinced that the poor only had themselves to blame for their troubles. They believed the lower classes were stupid, or didn’t work hard enough, and this was why they fell into poverty, if they deserved it then it wasn’t the upper classes’ job to fix it.

1945 UPDATED

The 2 world wars did a lot of work against the class system. The classes were a lot closer by 1945. For once they had both experienced the same dreadful things. The Depression followed by the war almost bankrupt the country, so everyone was similar in wealth. The 1928 Equal Franchise Act was passed, meaning all men and women over the age of 21 could vote, now people of any class could vote. However the stereotypes of the lower class remained. Even though Britain had changed on the outside, the attitude was still the same as pre-war times. Upper class people still thought they were superior to the lower class. The country was divided in many ways.

Priestley tries to tackle stereotypes and demonstrate how important it is to eliminate all class divides in Britain.