Dorothea Solly’s Musical World

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-155
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social World ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Vocal Technique ◽  
Social Milieu ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Musical Creativity

This case study explores the musical and social world of Dorothea Solly, a keen amateur musician and singer. It builds on Chapter 2 by arguing that Solly’s middle-class background, combined with a Broad Church Anglican milieu and her marriage into a Unitarian family shaped her strongly affirmative approach to female voices, in ways that contrasted sharply with the attitudes on display in conduct literature. In particular, she exhibited great admiration for, and sought to acquire herself, the advanced vocal technique of leading stars of the Italian opera, such as her singing teacher, Cecilia Davies. In her advocacy of both female professional performers and composers, and in her own style of singing, Solly and her social milieu encapsulate an important, emerging section of the British musical public that was open both to the idea of female musical creativity and professionalism, and comfortable with an empowered, confident, assertive style of envoicing femininity.

Encountering Women’s Voices in Letters, Diaries, and Life-Writing

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-83
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Religious Influences ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter examines the extent to which the restrictive attitudes to women’s voices encountered in conduct literature are traceable in sources that give insight into the daily life of the British concert-going classes, such as letters, diaries, and life-writing. It confirms that similar attitudes to women’s voices can be found among those from evangelical, middle-class backgrounds. It also reveals, however, that a range of different, more affirmative attitudes to the use of women’s voices can be found both among members of the aristocracy, and among non-evangelical sections of the middle classes, whether Broad or High Church Anglicans, Roman Catholics, or rational dissenters and Unitarians. While some individuals were clear in their stance, this chapter also emphasises that ambiguous and conflicted attitudes were commonplace, particularly among those with mixed religious influences in their social milieu. Overall, this chapter highlights the profound divisions and diversity of attitudes towards female voices among contemporary audiences.

Instructing Women’s Voices in Conduct Literature

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Professional Singers ◽  
Female Singers

This chapter explores the guidance regarding the use of the female voice that was a common feature of conduct literature in circulation in Britain between 1780 and 1850. Such works place a heavy emphasis on the restraint of the female voice, seeing it as an aural sign of a young woman’s modesty, diffidence, and chastity. Concomitantly, they characterised the technique, power, and skill displayed by many contemporary female singers’ voices (especially, but not exclusively, the professional singers of Italian opera) as signs of moral corruption and/or the neglect of feminine domestic and religious duties. However, this chapter stresses that this conduct literature was primarily written for a middle-class, evangelical readership. Consequently, it represents a particular perspective on the female voice, one that was certainly gathering steam in these years, but which was by no means universally dominant.

Some Dilemmas of Political Consumerism

2018 ◽  
pp. 720-740
Author(s):  
Sarah Webb ◽  
Anna Cristina Pertierra
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Palawan Island ◽  
Class Distinction

In the Philippines, socioeconomic relations that result from deeply uneven market engagements have long made consumption a moral affair. Ecoconscious lifestyles and consumer practices remain largely the domain of elite and middle-class Filipinos, and as such, engagement with sustainable and environmentally friendly consumption may be seen not only as a marker of class distinction but also as a critique of urban and rural poor livelihood practices deemed to be environmentally detrimental. Focusing on a case study from Palawan Island, the chapter discusses some dilemmas that have arisen as the application of “eco” to tourism practices has become widespread and attractive to middle-class Filipinos with steadily growing spending power. The relevance of class to considering dilemmas of political consumerism is not unique to the Philippines, and these issues provide an opportunity to critically reflect on who benefits from political consumerism.

Privilege Accumulation Among Upper Middle-Class Youth in Mexico

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minor Mora-Salas ◽  
Orlandina de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Mexican Families ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth

This chapter demonstrates how upper middle-class Mexican families mobilize a vast array of social, cultural, and economic resources to expand their children’s opportunities in life and ensure the intergenerational transmission of their social position. The authors analyze salient characteristics of families’ socioeconomic and demographics in the life histories of a group of young Mexicans from an upper middle-class background. Many believe that micro-social processes, especially surrounding education, are key to understanding how upper-class families mobilize their various resources to shape their children’s life trajectories. These families accumulate social advantages over time that accrue to their progeny and benefit them upon their entrance to the labor market.

scholarly journals Shifting power dynamics in interviews with children: a minority ethnic, working-class researcher’s reflections

2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412110347
Author(s):  
Imane Kostet
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Minority Ethnic

This article aims to contribute to the literature on power dynamics and researchers’ positionality in qualitative research, by shedding light on the experiences of a minority ethnic researcher with a working-class background. Drawing on Bourdieusian concepts, it discusses how middle-class children confronted the researcher with language stigma and how they, while drawing boundaries vis-à-vis those who ‘lack’ cultural capital, (unintentionally) drew boundaries against the researcher herself. In turn, it illustrates how during interviews with working-class children, manners had to be adopted with which the researcher is no longer familiar. This article calls on ethics committees to more strongly consider how researchers might become ‘vulnerable’ themselves during fieldwork and to acknowledge intersectional experiences that potentially cause power dynamics to shift, even in research involving groups that are socially believed to have little power, such as children.

scholarly journals Nonconformity and socialism: the case of J. G. Greenhough, 1880–1914

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (258) ◽  
pp. 771-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Self Interest

Abstract This article examines the life, thought and activism of the prominent Baptist minister John Gershom Greenhough. Existing scholarly and popular narratives generally focus on the key role played by Nonconformity in nurturing the labour movement in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Using Greenhough as a case study this article posits an alternative interpretation of this relationship, contending that the individualistic religious culture of Nonconformity was often deeply hostile to socialism. This hostility motivated Greenhough, and others like him, to abandon their historical allegiance to the Liberal party in the early twentieth century in favour of the Conservatives. More broadly, this article investigates the process of political and ideological conversion and challenges dominant historical readings that characterize anti-socialism as being synonymous with middle-class economic self-interest.

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