Class, identity and the urban: the middle class in England, c. 1790–1950

Abstract

The article considers the relationship between the middle class and urban place in England. Using the concept of identity, it examines changes in the meaning of the term ‘middle class’ between the late eighteenth and the mid-twentieth century and how these changes were related to the configuration of urbanity. In the earlier twentieth century, it is argued, state and nation replaced the urban as the principal referent for middle-class identity.