THE ENGLISH MIDDLE CLASSES

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 1950

A sometimes brilliant and often entertaining survey of the middle class as a whole, both in the light of historical perspective and of the current issues confronting it, this is an intelligent and comprehensive inquiry into the possibility of its survival. From the rise of the middle class to its golden age, and the building of a new Britain, this traces the changing directions which were of harm to it between wars; it traces also its background in the functions of government, public service, the professions and trades; it examines the problems of the middle class' individual financial aspects, of having children, of education and of domestic service. It shows how the middle class has been ""squeezed"" since 1939 and how the losses it has sustained have neither moral nor economic compensation in the greater benefits the poorer classes have received. It indicates the responsibility of the middle class for its own plight; it queries whether Britain can afford such a large middle class. All in all, its illuminating investigation should be of definite interest to students, sociologists and economists here in its revealing approach to such a specific society.

Pub Date: March 20, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1950

Categories: NONFICTION