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