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History General

Particular Condition in Life

Self-Employment and Social Mobility in Mid-Victorian Brantford, Ontario

by (author) David G. Burley

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jun 1994
Category
General, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773564800
    Publish Date
    Jun 1994
    List Price
    $110.00

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Description

Using extensive quantitative data, Burley provides a cultural analysis of the business community during the mid-nineteenth century. Because self-employment was so pervasive in Brantford, the impact of industrialization was particularly striking. Self-employed businessmen were forced to try to locate themselves in an emerging class system which often contradicted traditional Victorian social ideals of independence and manliness. Burley's exploration of the tensions behind these conflicting values - tensions both between myth and reality and within the bourgeois world view itself - is an important addition to the literature on business behaviour and Victorian cultural history. A Particular Condition in Life will be of interest to social, urban, and labour historians, sociologists, and those interested in the history of Ontario.

About the author

Editorial Reviews

"Burley offers a detailed quantitative review of structural economic change and a rich cultural analysis of a life in business. His focus on independence, manliness, and other Victorian values places structural phenomena in context." Tom Traves, Department of History, University of New Brunswick.