From The Perspective Of Material Life, The Class Identity Of The British Middle Class In Victorian Era Is Viewed

The Victorian Period(1837-1901)was the "Golden Age" for the development of Britain.Economic,political,and cultural developed faster than ever.The rapid development of the middle class during this period has become an indispensable pillar in British society.This article attempts to start with the material life of the middle class and explore the unique life style and class cultural identity behind it through the analysis of their diet,clothing,housing and compare with the material life of different classes.The thesis is divided into five parts:The introduction part discusses the background and significance of the topic,research status,research methods,innovation and concept definition.The first chapter introduces the causes and characteristics of the rise of the middle class.Firstly,the growing power of Britain is the foundation of the rise of the middle class.Secondly,the growth of the middle class is the internal driving force for its rise.The characteristics of the rise of the middle class are reflected in the three aspects of economy,politics and daily life.The second chapter is divided into three parts,which include diet?clothing and housing.The first part introduces middle class diet.The middle class diet which is divided into daily diet and banquet diet.Daily diet is quite rich and delicate,ranging from meat,fish to different kinds of fresh vegetables and fruits.The recipes of each week didn't repeat and constantly changed according to the season,while the banquet diet is more luxurious than the daily diet,because the banquet is not only the way for the middle class to meet their friends,but also an important way for the middle class to show off their social status and economic status.And the middle class pay much attention on the etiquette,because the etiquette is the way for them to protect their rights and exclude the people who are not belong to them.The second part introduces the middle-class clothing which is divided into women's clothing,men's clothing and children's clothing.Clothing is not only a symbol of person's identity and status,but also an important symbol to identify one class from another class.At this period,the middle class ladies' clothing tends to be aesthetic,elegant and cumbersome,and the design concept of the clothes is more in line with the definition of women's image which is called the elegant and wise angel of the family.The middle class men's clothing is black and white color-based,more gentleman and capable than ever.The most fashionable children's clothing in that time is the style of sailors and navy-style clothes.The pursuit of decent and fashion is the characteristic of middle class in clothing.The third part introduces the middle class housing.First of all,the vast majority of middle-class dwellings are semi-detached dwellings,and a small proportion of the rich middle-class dwell in villas.Such external dwelling structures help to protect the privacy of the middle class from being violated.Each area has the different function such as the basement and the kitchen are often on the ground floor,the lobby and dining room on the first floor,the living room on the second floor,the third floor is the bedroom of the masculine and hostess,and the storage room and the servant's room are often on the attic.Interior decoration is also exquisite,the middle class will spend a lot of energy to decorate the living room and dining room,because they take an important way for meeting people and guests will not enter the other room such as bedroom,kitchen,so these rooms decoration are relatively simple.The pursuit of privacy and comfort of the residential environment during this period is the most important feature of the middle class in housing.The third chapter compares the middle class' s life style with the upper class and the lower class to further highlight the middle class' s unique life style and class identity.By comparison with the upper classes,we find that there is still a large gap between the middle class and the upper class in material life.However,we can see that the middle class is struggling to imitate the traces of the upper class which also confirms that time the social value is to keep pace with the upper class.While by comparison with the lower classes,we can see the superiority of the middle class,thus demonstrating their dedication to dividing the boundaries with the lower classes.The conclusion summarize the previous three chapters,further refining the deep connotation of the middle class in the material life and providing guidance and advice on shaping the lifestyle and class identity of the middle class in our country.