The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and the democratization of learning in early nineteenth-century Britain

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was one of the most prominent, influential and controversial educational programs in nineteenth-century Britain. Between 1826-1846, this society put hundreds of books and periodicals into the hands of hundreds of thousands of readers. In addition, the SDUK assisted in removing barriers to the diffusion of knowledge in Britain, proved that a market existed for good, cheap literature, and ushered in a new era of publishing for a mass audience. The SDUK was particularly influential in spreading science to a broad and diverse population. The print nature and the cheapness of the SDUK program gave it a nearly unlimited potential audience. Moreover, the SDUK was deliberately inclusive in its audience, actively seeking to make its publications useful and appealing to a wide variety of readers of all classes, genders, educational levels, and professions. It did so, not by producing separate publications for different audiences, but by attempting to make each publication valuable to all potential readers. By providing the same information, in the same format, for all readers from barons to bricklayers, the SDUK democratized learning in a way that defied the social boundaries of the period and broadened the horizon for future popularizers and educators.; Using the framework of the production and consumption of knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the multiple uses of knowledge among both the Society and its diverse audience. By examining the SDUK in terms of producers and consumers of knowledge exposes similarities of purpose, acceptance and rejection that are independent of class boundaries. This analysis of the SDUK and its relationship to its consumers suggests that the entire "useful knowledge movement" and popular education in early nineteenth century Britain need to be re-evaluated outside of a class-based framework.