Impact Of Industrialism On Change Of Victorian Middle-class Women’s Social Status

Britain was the first country in the world that began the Industrial Revolution whichreached its peak in Victorian era. It not only led to the great improvement of socialproductivity but also brought about a significant change of social relationship.According to the Marxism Class Analysis, the identity of a social class derives fromits relationship to the means of production. The middle classes belongs to part of thebourgeoisie, who own the means of production but also work and can afford to buylittle labor power like small business owners, peasant landlords, trade workers. Thisperiod saw the final consolidation of a middle class so large, affluent and positive intheir attitudes that the whole period had come to be associated with them. This wasespecially reflected in middle-class women. Before the Industrial Revolution, mostwomen were confined within the families. To them,“the angle in the house” was thehighest praise to them. Nevertheless, with the development of the IndustrialRevolution, a great change both in educational and economic fields had occurred tomiddle class women. Their self-recognition and self-consciousness were bothimproved. For the first time, they entered into the area of male-dominated career andbegan to join in politics. As the proponents of feminist movement, they had played asignificant roles in the improvement of the social statues of whole females in Britainhistory.This article chooses middle class as the background. By the analysis of the change ofVictorian middle class’s social status in economic, political, educational and familyareas, it helps better understand how the Industrial Revolution pushed forwardwoman’s rights in Human History.