List of Tables; Introduction: Definitions; 1. The Local Context; 2. Parish Office and the Formation of Social Identity; 3. 'Chief Inhabitants' and 'Material Culture'; 4. The Language of Social Authority; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Exploring the origins of 'middle-class' status in the English provinces during a formative period of social and economic change, this book provides the first comparative study of the nature of social identity in early modern provincial England. It questions definitions of a 'middling' group, united by shared patterns of consumption and display, and examines the bases for such identity in three detailed case studies of the 'middle sort' in East Anglia, Lancashire, and Dorset. Dr. French identifies how the 'middling' described their status, and examines this through their social position in paris