The Develpoment of Leisure Amongst the Social Classes During the Industrial Revolution

• Introduction
• Effects of the Industrial Revolution
• Upper class Leisure
• Middle class Leisure
• Working class Leisure
• Modern Leisure
• Bibliography

Introduction
The privilege of leisure for the middle and lower classes is, still, a relatively new idea. It was not until the boom of the Industrial Revolution that the lower classes were even allowed to think about what they might do should they have any free time. However, while men in the Victorian period developed their realms of recreation, women were left at home in the domestic sphere. Whether in the upper class or lower, working class, women were kept in domestic spheres and were little thought of when it came to recreation.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution fundamentally changed the family structure in the working class. Prior to this period, men were head of the household and worked away from home while women stayed at home and took care of the children and other household duties. However, with the push for more income, women as well as children went to work to support all in the household. Wives were expected to work in the factory and take care of housework. The Revolution also brought about a radical change to the workweek. What was once a six-day workweek, twelve hours a day, gradually became a five-day workweek from Monday through Friday with a half day on Saturday. The middle class supported a push for an increase in recognized holidays. Laws such as the Factory Acts of 1867 and 1874 ensured that workers were given holidays on Christmas and Good Friday (Bailey 142). Still other factors contributed to ideas of leisure such as the Great Exhibition and ‘rational recreation.’ The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a world’s fair type event that introduced the middle and working class to trains. This new form of transportation allowed those who were limited to travel within their town or village to travel farther and more frequently than before. The idea of ‘rational recreation’ was the middle class’ solution to the tacky, perverse recreation of the working class, most of which spent their time at pubs and bars. Rational recreation included singing, drama, piano and other activities that expanded the mind (Honeyman 109). These activities were promoted to bring the middle class and working class together in social harmony.

Upper Class Leisure
These changes primarily affected the lower classes and did not change the role of upper class women whose whole purpose was to no do anything. As the wife of a wealthy aristocrat, upper class women were thought of as a symbol of their husband’s wealth. The less work they did, the more prosperous their husbands were. A woman’s expensive wardrobe and obsession with grooming showed not only her husband’s wealth, but also her dependence on him financially (Cunningham 131). However, the wealthy women did enjoy activities outside the realm of the household, which was not often permitted to working class women. They took trips to the seaside, played croquet, bicycled, and went ice-skating. Women also began to accompany men on hunting trips once they were assured that it was a sport for the upper class only and that there would be no mingling with the lower classes (Cunningham 129). Unlike the middle class, it seems that these women had no motivation to adhere to the ‘rational recreation’ doctrine and spend time with the lower classes.

Middle Class Leisure
The middle class built their ideas of what leisure should be based upon the activities of the upper class. They built their own social groups and participated in many of the same sports and games as the upper class such as cricket, lawn tennis and croquet. Many women took the opportunity of the outdoors to engage in courtship and flirtation. Ice-skating, or ‘rinkomania,’ provided the perfect opportunity for young women to escape their chaperones and flirt with young men, which brought the saying “fresh air and flirtation in good combination" (Bailey 77).
Women used this free time to flirt and hopefully find a suitable husband. Getting away from one’s chaperones wasn’t very easy, or socially accepted. Those who traveled outside of their home without either their husband or other appropriate male were generally deemed prostitutes. Though the middle class doctrine of ‘rational recreation’ was meant to bring the classes together, it was not meant to bring genders together. The only place that unchaperoned women and men from different social classes mingled together in leisure was in music halls or, sometimes theaters, which were frequented by prostitutes. However, this could not truly be thought of as leisure for women, because they were working as prostitutes (Cunningham 130-1).

Working Class Leisure
The working class felt the real effects of industrialization and though they were limited in what they could do, they did what they could. This luxury was afforded mostly to men, who controlled the money as well as the power. Because men had control of his wife’s money, he could spend it frivolously and there would be nothing that she could do about it (Bailey 181). Not only could women not leave the house for their own recreation, but also their husband’s recklessness in leisure could ruin the whole family financially. While the doctrine of ‘rational recreation helped working class men by establishing clubs and social activities, little though was given to the leisure needs of women. 'Bar at the Follies Bergere' by Edouard Manet Men often felt that women had no need for these activities and whatever need they did have would be in the household. If women were given a holiday from factory work, they were not expected to go out and have fun, but to stay at home and finish the chores that they had neglected during the week while working at the factory. If they did not want to do housework while the men went out and enjoyed themselves, the answer wasn’t to give women their own forms of entertainment or for men to help out with chores, but for women to simple not do work (Cunningham 129). Working class women did participate in leisure activities outside of the household, but it was usually with the family. They went to fairs, watched cricket matches, traveled, went to music halls, and shopped for items for the house. Though these moments were far and few between, they were able to get out of housework ever now and then.

Modern Leisure
Leisure activities enjoyed by women today are vast and ever expanding. Women today are no longer restricted by their husbands or other paternal influences. They are able to go places on their own and are not bogged down by as many responsibilities of the household as they once were. Some responsibilities are still expected, but men are also expected to pitch in and help with housework. Also, women from all classes are also able to mingle freely with other classes and the opposite sex without fear of a diminished reputation. Though some women are confined financially by the activities that they can choose, the vast numbers of leisure activities available make a big difference in the way women spend their free time.

Bibliography

Bailey, Peter. Leisure and Class in Victorian England. University of Toronto Press, 1978.

Cunningham, Hugh. Leisure in the Industrial Revolution, c. 1780-1880. London: Croom Helm, 1980.

Honeyman, Katrina. Women, Gender and Industrialisation in England, 1700-1870. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press Ltd., 2000.