The Market Revolution

The Market Revolution, 1820s-1830s

• production for local subsistence led to production for national and international markets
• economic transformation tied to new technologies
  • transportation and communication revolutions
  • new methods of banking and finance
• dramatically transformed society, culture, religion, politics

The Market Revolution and Gender

• market revolution changed gender roles
  • wage work undercut “independence” ideal
  • dependence on the market
  • more women and children working outside home
• anxieties and new ideals

The Cult of Domesticity

• ideology of “separate spheres” or “domesticity”
  • men worked and earned money in the “public sphere”
  • women and children were sheltered in the “private” or “domestic” sphere
  • ideal didn’t match reality
  • most families’ experiences didn’t match
  • achieving it was a status symbol for middle/upper class families
  • responded to anxieties over social change

Companionate Marriage

• 18th century “institutional marriage”
  • an economic relationship
• 19th century was start of “companionate marriage”
  • still economic, but also emotional

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