Life in the Emerging Urban Society 1848-1900

1. Life in the Emerging Urban Society1848-1900 McKay Chapter 24

2. Homework • Read McKay Chapter 24 • Quiz on Chapter 24 Friday!!!

3. Big PictureEuropean Culture 1848-1900 • The Conservative victory over the romantic, liberal, socialist, nationalist movements of 1848 did not solve growing problems • Urbanization, Industrialization • Yet by 1900 public health greatly improved, diets improved, life expectancy grew, industrialization spread, the size of the middle class grew, secularization grew, feminism increased, value of science

4. Urban Life during the Early Industrial Revolution

5. Industry and the growth of cities Manchester canal, circa 1850 • congestion, filth, and disease existed long before the Industrial Revolution • Cities had higher death rates than birth rates • Industrial Revolution & population growth made urban reform necessary • In Britain, % of population living in cities of 20,000 • 17 percent in 1801 • 54 percent in 1891 • Housing • Overcrowded, lacked sanitation, no yards • Many people lived in sewage & poo-poo kaa-kaa • Manchester • Over 200 people shared 1 outhouse Passage de la Petite Boucherie, Paris

6. Industry and the growth of cities • Why the awful conditions? • A lack of transportation • “walking cities” • Lack of sanitary codes • legacy of rural housing also contributed to the problem • Took dirt for granted Top of rue Champlain, Paris 1858

7. Gustave Doré: London, A Pilgrimage

8. Advent of the Public Health Movement • Edwin Chadwick • British commissioner in charge of poor relief under Poor Law of 1834 • Greatly influenced by Bentham • Jeremy Bentham • Philosopher who believed in Utilitarianism • Public problems must be dealt with rationally according “greatest good for the greatest number” • Chadwick came to believe that disease and death caused poverty • “Sanitary idea” • believed that cleaning the city would curtail disease • proposed the installation of running water and sewers • New sanitation methods and public health laws adopted all over Europe after 1840s

9. The Bacterial Revolution • Miasmatic theory • Old Belief that disease was caused by bad odors • Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) • French chemist who discovered Germ Theory • germs caused disease • major breakthrough • Pasteurization • Organism growth that occurs during fermentation could be eliminated via heat • meant disease could be controlled through vaccines • Robert Koch • Germany doctor identified harmful organisms and their life cycles • vaccines developed • Joseph Lister • developed the concept of sterilization of wounds • Diphtheria, typhoid, typhus, cholera vanished • Mortality rates began to decline rapidly in European countries Operation using Lister's carbolic spray invented in 1869

10. Improvements in Urban Planning • Better urban planning contributed to improved living conditions • Napoleon III led the way in Paris • Motivated by desire to better lives of citizens, provide employment, glory for himself • Georges Haussmann (1809-1884) • Alsatian Urban planner • Demolished entire neighborhoods in Isle de Cite • Transformed Paris during 1850-60s • Pre 1850 Paris • A “labyrinth of narrow, dark streets, severely overcrowded” • “walking city” • Very high death rates

11. Haussmann’s Paris and Transporation • Paris became a model city • Broad, straight, tree lined boulevards cut through the center of the city • Prevent barricade building • Parks created throughout the city • Sewers improved & aqueducts built • Improved housing (especially for middle class) • Transportation • Horse drawn streetcars came in 1870s • Electric streetcars • Came after 1890 • revolutionized urban life and enabled the cities to expand • Cheaper, faster, cleaner, more comfortable • Carried 6.7 billion riders in Euro cities by 1910 The Boulevard Saint-Michel by Jean-François Raffaëlli -ironically had been a Parisian realist painter and printmaker turned Impressionist The avenue de l'Opéra as seen by Pissaro

12. Enrique Martínez Cubells’ La Puerta del Sol (Sun Gate), Madrid circa 1900 • Note prominence of bourgeoisie • Threshold of old world transportation and new

13. Pre Haussman Paris Post Haussman Paris

14. Rich and poor and those in between

15. Rich and poor and those in between • Social structure • Between about 1850 and 1906, the standard of living for the average person improved substantially • But differences in wealth continued to be enormous • Wealthiest 5% owned 33% of the wealth • society remained stratified in a number of classes • Yet did not split into tow sharply defined groups as Marx had predicted • Diverse social and economic hierarchy emerged Paris Street; Rainy Day ,1877 by the Gustave Caillebotte Figures are dressed in the height of contemporary Parisian fashion. She wears a hat, veil, diamond earring, demure brown dress, and a fur lined coat. The man wears a moustache, topcoat, frock coat, top hat, bow tie, starched white shirt …middle class. Yet some working class figures may be seen in the background; a maid in a doorway, the decorator carrying a ladder …

16. Upper Class • Wealthy classes • Aristocrats, nobility, lords, large landowners • Power somewhat diminished after 1848 • But still held lots of influence (especially in Eastern Europe) • Had many servants • Lived in lavish townhouses during “the season” (winter) and country estates during summer • Arranged marriages • Rose from Titanic • Often married wealthy middle class • Titles for cash • Attended exclusive schools

17. The Middle Classes • Upper middle class • composed of successful business families who were attracted to the aristocratic lifestyle (Nouveau Riches), (Cal from Titanic) • Middle middleclass group • contained merchants, lawyers, and doctors--people who were well off but not wealthy • Lower middle class • shopkeepers, small businessmen, and white-collar workers • Experts • engineers, chemists, accountants, teachers • Managers of new department stores

18. Middle-class culture united these sub-classes • Lifestyle and culture united middle classes • Food= largest expense • Favored large dinner parties once a week (Big meat eaters) • “servant keeping classes” • Great # of servants higher status • fashionable dressing, apartment housing, and good education • Books, travel, music, and family important values of “leisure” • Code of expected behavior • stressed hard work, self-discipline, religion, and restraint from vices • Victorian morality • Separate sphere = home • Known for prudishness • Corset, Crinoline dress "The Corner of the Table, 1904“ by Paul Chabas

19. Child rearing • Urban improvements and Bacteria Revolution greatly reduced infant mortality • Middle class values centered on the family • Mothers encouraged to love their children • more breastfeeding and less swaddling and abandonment of babies • fathers were urged to help in child rearing • Why? • Birthrate declined • each child became more important and could receive more advantages

20. The working classes • Vast majority of people (4 out of 5 by 1900) • had varying lifestyles and little unity • "labor aristocracy" • Highly skilled workers • Factory bosses, construction bosses, cabinet makers, jewelers • Vicarious position because of rapid automation of formerly skilled crafts • considered themselves the leaders of the working class • Adopted middle class values • Committed to family and economic improvement • Valued education, separate spheres • Frowned on heavy drinking, sexual promiscuity • “the path to the brothel leads through the tavern” and from there total ruin

21. The Working Classes • Semiskilled workers • Carpenters, bricklayers, and some factory workers • Unskilled workers • factory workers, teamsters, day laborers, rag gatherers • Domestic Servants • mostly female, were a large unskilled subgroup • 33% of girl in Britain between 15-20 • Drawn to occupation from rural setting because of adventure, marriage prospects • “Sweated industries“ • Women who did piece-work from home • Very low wages • Decorated dishes, embroidered linens, did laundry, ironing, sewed clothes

23. Premarital sex and marriage • "Romantic love" encouraged among working classes • economic considerations still strong in middle classes • Premarital sex remained high but • After 1850 • Illegitimacy decreased • indicating the growing morality and stability of the working class

24. Leisure Activities of Working Classes • Drinking • favorite leisure activity • "drinking problem” (drunkenness) declined in the late 19th century • influence of middle class and upper working class values • Cafes and pubs became respectable, even for women • Pubs became centers for working class politics • Spectator Sports grew • Soccer, horse racing most popular • Ironically fueled literacy among working classes • Wanted to be able to read racing forms to place bets • “cruel sports” of bullbaiting, etc. declined • Music and Vaudeville Theaters popular • 50 in London alone in 1900 • Favorite topics included drunkenness, premarital sex, marriage problems, and mothers-in-law Click for Clip

25. Religion and the Working Classes • Church Attendance declined during late 1800s • Why? • Lack of churches in urban areas • Catholic and Protestant churches viewed as conservative, traditional institutions that upheld the power and position of the ruling elites • Working class were anti-church but not anti religion • Religious organizations linked with an ethnic group (e.g., Irish and Jewish), and not the state, tended to thrive • Middle Class stressed church attendance St. Peter’s RCC, Stalybridge, Cheshire, UK

26. Prostitution Post-Impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec • 155 thousand registered in Paris • Middle and upper classes fueled it • Men commonly turned to prostitutes because • marriages were so often made later in life, especially in the middle and upper classes • My Secret Life • Anonymous autobiography of wealthy middle class • Revealed dark side of urban society • Some prostitutes operated in business-like matter • Some Working class girls corrupted by hot meals, baths • For some women was a stage of life, like being domestic servant

27. The Triumph of Science and Industry • Scientific knowledge began to have growing influence on human thought • Scientific Revolution had not played large role technological breakthroughs • Industrial Revolution and technology great increased scientific inquiry and R&D • Electricity become commercial form of energy after 1890 • German chemist revolutionized even fashion with dyes derived from coal coke • Second Industrial Revolution • Burst of technological innovation and industry after 1850 • Scientific achievements strengthened faith in progress and gave science unrivaled prestige German chemist created the first colorfast green dye using copper and arsenic; known as Scheele’s Green in 1814

28. Social science and evolution • Auguste Comte • Father of Sociology • tried to study society scientifically • using data collected by the government to find social laws • Comte argued • The third and final stage of knowledge is that of science, or what he called the "positivist method" • Would allow social scientists to develop a disciplined and harmonic society ruled by science and experts • Theory also shows increase in concept of evolution • Marx’s stages to Communism • Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

29. Social science and evolution • Origin of the Species • Theory of evolution • Charles Darwin • English naturlist • 5 year cruise to S. America and Pacific • Collected and studied specimens of different animal species • theorized that all life had evolved gradually from a common origin through an unending "struggle for survival" that led to the survival of the fittest by natural selection • Social Darwinists, such as Herbert Spencer, applied Darwin's ideas to human affairs • Fit nicely with Bourgeoisie weltanschauung Satirical cartoon by Thomas Nast, from Harper's Weekly, August 19, 1871. Victorian society was shocked by the publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and in 1871 of his Descent of Man, both of which seemed to indicate that man was descended from the apes. Here the artist puts all the dismay into the mouth of the “defrauded” ape.

30. Realism in literature • Literature of post 1850 Europe to 1890s • Rejected romantic notions of emotion and free will • Objectively studied & wrote about • everyday life • taboo subjects • Sex, violence, alcoholism, poverty • urban working class • Were strict determinists (Fatalistic) • human actions were caused by unalterable natural laws • Emile Zola • French realist • Carefully researched and observed urban slums, strikes • Count Leo Tolstoy • War and Peace set during Napoleon’s invasion in Russia • Fatalistic theory of history • But central message is love, trust and family are only enduring values