Tiratelli, Matteo;
(2022)
The Working Week in the Long Nineteenth Century: Evidence from the Timings of Political Events in Britain.
Social Science History
10.1017/ssh.2021.51.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Tiratelli_SSHA-D-21-00004_R1_1.pdf Download (3MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Debates about patterns of time use in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain go back to the seminal work of E. P. Thompson in the 1960s. But the lack of systematic evidence means that many of these questions remain unresolved. In an attempt to advance those debates, this essay uses three catalogs of political events to reconstruct the working week in Britain over the long nineteenth century. Three patterns emerge. First, observance of Saint Monday appears to have been widespread in the early nineteenth century before declining slowly in the mid-1800s, a process that happened faster in factory towns than elsewhere. This finding supports the orthodox narrative about Saint Monday against its recent challengers (in particular Hans-Joachim Voth). Second, I find that political organizers in the early nineteenth century were reluctant to profane the Sabbath by arranging public meetings on Sundays, but that this came to an end during the heyday of Chartism. Third, these catalogs also provide some, more speculative, evidence that the working day and the working week became more ordered as the nineteenth century wore on.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Working Week in the Long Nineteenth Century: Evidence from the Timings of Political Events in Britain |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/ssh.2021.51 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2021.51 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Time, Saint Monday, time use, working week, industrious revolution |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10143338 |
Loading...
Loading...Loading...Loading...Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
