Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: the social context of illegitimacy in rural Kent

Rural History ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Reay

More bad history has been written about sex than any other subject. Our ignorance about the sexual attitudes and behaviour of people in the past is compounded by a desire to rush to rash generalisation. This is unfortunate, for (consciously or not) our perceptions of the present are shaped by our assumptions about the past. Britain's current preoccupation with ‘Victorian values’ is but a politically visible example of a more general phenomenon. And, more specifically, we do not know a great deal about lower-class sexuality in nineteenth-century England. There are studies of bourgeois desires and sensibilities, but little on the mores of the vast bulk of the population.As Jean Robin has demonstrated recently, one of the most fruitful approaches to the subject is the detailed local study – the micro-study. It may not appeal to those with a penchant for the broad sweep, but such an approach can provide a useful entry into the sexual habits of the people of the past. This article is intended as a follow-up to Robin's work. It deals with a part of rural Kent and, like Robin's work, it covers an aspect of nineteenth-century sexuality – in this case, the social context of illegitimacy. More particularly, this study (and here I differ from Robin) will question the usefulness of the concept of a ‘bastardy-prone sub-society’ (more of which later), a term still favoured by many historical sociologists. The experience of rural Kent suggests that bearing children outside marriage should be seen not as a form of deviancy but rather as part of normal sexual culture.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Joanna Wardzała

The young generation in terms of work, consumption and success  The subject matter of the young generation in the social context has been repeatedly examined and many studies have been prepared on this topic, for example the works of K. Wyka and earlier K. Manheim. Increasingly, the issue of the younger generation is discussed in the area of issues related to consumption and work. The article is of a theoretical and empirical nature; it is an attempt to portray the young generation in its two most important roles on the market — the consumer and the entrepreneur. It is an introductory element to the problems of consumer behaviors and entrepreneurial behaviors of the young generation. The publication draws attention to the expectations of the young generation about the applicable law and the economy. The first part of the article is characterized by sociological considerations and serves to determine the meaning of the young generation in consumer society, in particular, to outline the framework of youth, which in literature is sometimes defined not only by age categories. It is also an interdisciplinary review of theories, both those created in the past and those quite contemporary. In the second part, it refers to the results of qualitative research relating to the opinions and expectations of the young generation about consumption, work and success.  


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Dmitry Vladimirovich Rakhinsky ◽  
Grigorii Andreevich Illarionov ◽  
Anna Nikolaevna Gorodishcheva ◽  
Nikolai Alekseevich Knyazev

  The subject of this research is the dynamics of conceptualization of the phenomenon of cultural reproduction, expressed in the concepts of tradition and cultural memory, as well as the related concepts of the invention of tradition, historical memory, and post-truth. The article analyzes the transformation of epistemological approach that took place in the late XX century towards reproduction of culture, reflected in the change of the fundamental conceptual metaphor – from “delivery”(traditio) to “memory”, which means a shift in the dominant approach towards the structure of cultural continuum that appears to be attributed not to the objective reproducible content, rather than its construction by the subject. It is suggested to examine the questions of current interrelation between post-truth and public consciousness. The author creates an instrumental approach towards tradition, which is characterized by pragmatism expressed in the intention towards management of social relations, where tradition is a tool for managing the present through the formation of representations about the past, and constructivism, which implies that tradition is a construct of perception formed in the present, not reflecting the past itself. Being internalized in a broad social context, the instrumental approach is realized within the framework of the state of post-truth, which does not consider the past crucial for the formation of public opinion compared to other personal beliefs, as well as management methods applied to the latter. Problematization of the theme of post-truth demonstrates the internalization of instrumental approach into a broad social context, indicating the cross-effect pf epistemological and general cultural social context with regards to problem of interrelation between the social past and the present.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Sônia Maria Fernandes dos Santos

Este artigo pretende suscitar reflexão a respeito das diferentes formas em que a criança é percebida nas produções cinematográficas, particularmente na película O contador de histórias (2009), na tentativa de contribuir para o repertório de investigações sobre infância, bem como tentar compreender padrões sociais e de comportamentos no que se refere à infância e sua história – uma vez que muitos aspectos da infância contemporânea descendem do passado. Os estudos sobre infância alcançaram uma dimensão significativa e, com isso, têm proporcionado contribuições expressivas sob diversos enfoques, neste sentido, faz-se necessário estudar a infância, em perspectivas variadas, para tentarmos perceber os diferentes fenômenos sociais que dizem respeito à construção do sujeito criança. A escolha em repousar nossas análises em um filme é por acreditar que pelos filmes há a possibilidade da construção de representações sociais, bem como um forte potencial para influenciar comportamentos, isto é, os filmes têm a qualidade de registrar o passado e o contexto social e também de criar reminiscências históricas próprias. O aporte teórico para este estudo está baseado na Sociologia da Infância, uma vez que este campo “...insere-se decisivamente na construção da reflexividade contemporânea sobre a realidade social”, e devido ao fato que “as crianças constituem uma porta de entrada fundamental para a compreensão dessa realidade” (SARMENTO, 2009, p. 19). The childhood in the film O Contador de Histórias: a sociological approach. This article aims to encourage reflexion about the differents ways in which children is noticed in cinematographic productions, especially in the film O contador de histórias (Luiz Villaça, Brazil, 2009), in an attempt to contribute to the research's repertoire of childhood, as well as try to understand social and behaviour standarts regarding childhoos and it's history - once that many childhood contemporary's aspects descendants of the past. The studies about childhood reached a significative dimension and, with that, have provided significant contributions under various focuses, in this sense, it's necessary to study childhood, in different perspectives, to try to understand the different social phenomena that relate to the construction of the subject child. The choice to rest our analysis in a movie is to believe that the films are the possibility of social representation's constrution, as well as a strong potential to influence behaviour, that is, films have the quality to record the past and the social context, but also, to create own historical reminiscences. The theoretical basis for this study is based on the Sociology of Childhood, since this field "...inserts decisively in the construction of modern reflexivity of social reality" and, due to the fact that "children form a fundamental gateaway to the understanding of this reality" (SARMENTO, 2009, p. 19). Keywords: Childhood; Cinema; Childhood's Sociology.


The subject of this volume is intentional dental modification—changing the human appearance by removing teeth, or otherwise altering their shape, surface, or color. It has been practiced, in one form or another, on every occupied continent at some point over the past 16,000 years. The contributions in this volume encompass a diverse body of work on the subject over this timespan, from Africa, Europe, the Americas, Australia, Oceania, and Asia. As a highly visible practice, dental modification may be used to send complex messages concerning a variety of topics, including status, personal identity, and group membership. But beyond this, the difficulties in identifying purposefully modified teeth, the motivations for and biocultural consequences of the practice, and even the social context in which it still occurs today are presented. As a body of work, the aim is to capture a representative spectrum of dental modification around the world, and the variety of ways in which it can inform us about the humans occupying those regions, both past and present.


1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110201
Author(s):  
Thomas A. DiPrete ◽  
Brittany N. Fox-Williams

Social inequality is a central topic of research in the social sciences. Decades of research have deepened our understanding of the characteristics and causes of social inequality. At the same time, social inequality has markedly increased during the past 40 years, and progress on reducing poverty and improving the life chances of Americans in the bottom half of the distribution has been frustratingly slow. How useful has sociological research been to the task of reducing inequality? The authors analyze the stance taken by sociological research on the subject of reducing inequality. They identify an imbalance in the literature between the discipline’s continual efforts to motivate the plausibility of large-scale change and its lesser efforts to identify feasible strategies of change either through social policy or by enhancing individual and local agency with the potential to cumulate into meaningful progress on inequality reduction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Jaffe

With relatively few exceptions, personal petitions from individuals have received much less attention from historians than those from groups in the public political sphere. In one sense, personal petitions adopted many of the same rhetorical strategies as those delivered by a group. However, they also offer unique insights into the quotidian relationship between the people and their rulers. This article examines surviving personal petitions to various administrators at different levels of government in western India during the decades surrounding the East India Company’s conquests. The analysis of these petitions helps to refine our understanding of the place of the new judicial system in the social world of early-nineteenth-century India, especially by illuminating the discourse of justice that petitioners brought to the presentation of their cases to their new governors. The conclusion of this article seeks to place the rhetoric of personal petitioning within the larger context of mass political petitioning in India during the early nineteenth century.


1998 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bluestone

This essay explores the Mecca, one of Chicago's largest nineteenth-century apartment houses. Designed in 1891, the Mecca's innovative plan incorporated an exterior landscaped courtyard and two monumental interior atria. The form and meaning of these spaces diverged in important respects. The exterior courtyards appropriated aspects of the single-family residential form and domestic ideology. The interior atria relied on Chicago skyscraper models and their cosmopolitan approach to the possibilities of density. Exterior courtyards later proliferated, while atria appeared in only two other local residential buildings. Nevertheless, the Mecca's atria possessed a sense of place that deeply etched the building into Chicago's cultural and political landscape. The building became the subject of 1920s blues improvisation-the "Mecca Flat Blues." In the 1940s and 1950s tenants waged a decadelong Mecca preservation campaign. Housing rather than Chicago School aesthetics provided the preservationists with their point of departure. Race interesected with space and Mies van der Rohe's vision of modern urbanism to seal the Mecca's fate. The essay's methodology develops the social and cultural meaning of form. Moreover, it demonstrates the importance of pushing architectural history beyond the nexus of meaning created by original patrons and designers. We stand to learn a great deal about architectural and urban history by studying how people have defined and redefined, valued and devalued, their buildings, cities, and landscapes.


2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Helena do Nascimento Souza ◽  
Ivis Emília de Oliveira Souza ◽  
Florence Romijn Tocantins

This study aimed to discuss the contribution of the social network methodological framework in nursing care delivered to women who breastfeed their children up to six months of age. This qualitative study aimed to elaborate the social network map of 20 women through tape-recorded interview. Social network analysis evidenced a "strong" bond between these women and members from their primary network, especially friends, neighbors, mothers or with the child's father, who were reported as the people most involved in the breastfeeding period. The contribution of this framework to nursing practice is discussed, especially in care and research processes. We believe that nurses' appropriation of this framework can be an important support for efficacious actions, as well as to favor a broader perspective on the social context people experience.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Constantin Vadimovich Troianowski

This article investigates the process of designing of the new social estate in imperial Russia - odnodvortsy of the western provinces. This social category was designed specifically for those petty szlachta who did not possess documents to prove their noble ancestry and status. The author analyses deliberations on the subject that took place in the Committee for the Western Provinces. The author focuses on the argument between senior imperial officials and the Grodno governor Mikhail Muraviev on the issue of registering petty szlachta in fiscal rolls. Muraviev argued against setting up a special fiscal-administrative category for petty szlachta suggesting that its members should join the already existing unprivileged categories of peasants and burgers. Because this proposal ran against the established fiscal practices, the Committee opted for creating a distinct social estate for petty szlachta. The existing social estate paradigm in Russia pre-assigned the location of the new soslovie in the imperial social hierarchy. Western odnodvortsy were to be included into a broad legal status category of the free inhabitants. Despite similarity of the name, the new estate was not modeled on the odnodvortsy of the Russian provinces because they retained from the past certain privileges (e.g. the right to possess serfs) that did not correspond to the 19th century attributes of unprivileged social estates.


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