ABSTRACT
The economic changes analysed in the previous chapter led to a major social transformation. The main trend was for the expansion of the wealthy elite, which grew in size through opportunities and social and economic mobility, and a lower order which found subsistence more and more difficult. This is the theme of Analysis 1. To what extent was this social polarisation accompanied by a conceptual polarisation – the development of a dichotomy between ‘respectability’ and ‘vulgarity’? This will be examined within two further contexts: the issue of law and order (Analysis 2) and culture (Analysis 3).
