Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880 (European Culture and Society Series) - Hardcover

Hall, Dr Lesley A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333650522 ISBN 13: 9780333650523

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000

Synopsis

Though sexual attitudes and behaviour have changed radically in Britain since the mid-nineteenth century Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880 shows how slow, and how halting these processes of change have been. Lesley Hall reveals how issues which were arousing concern in the 1880s and 1890s continue to manifest in different forms as we enter the new millennium. Topics covered include homosexuality, the changing legal and social position of women, sex education and censorship. A major focus is the ambiguous and syncopated relationship between 'progressive' and 'reactionary' tendencies. Recent secondary literature is synthesised and new archival research incorporated.

About this title

Review:

'A super text which draws together a number of themes previously neglected - a good addition to any social history course.' - Yvonne Brown, Glasgow Caledonian University

'...one of a few rare books which can be enjoyed by the general reader, used as an undergraduate text, offer fresh insights to social historians and indicate further lines of enquiry for future researchers...This is history written with transparent warmth and humanity - it will undoubtedly give pleasure to all who are fortunate enough to read it.' - Paula Bartley, Reviews in History

'Hall's credentials for marshalling great quantities of information on her topic are impeccable.' - Times Literary Supplement

'Excellent text, well written, comprehensive in content, accessible to students.' - Paula Bartley, University of Wolverhampton

'This is an excellent book; superbly well informed but not weighted down with detail...It is also lively and entertaining.' - Chris Nottingham, School of Social Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University

'Wide ranging and accurate coverage of complex and sensitive issues regarding sexuality, gender and social change.' - Melinda Barone, University College Salford

'There are few better people better placed to give an overview of the histories of sexuality since the late nineteenth century than Lesley Hall. As a senior medical archivist at the Wellcome Trust Library and author, she has been at the forefront of new historical work on sexuality over the last ten years. The value of this book is that it displays the breadth of recent historical research into fields of enquiry that can still sometimes seem almost impossible to illuminate. Sex, Gender and Social Change since 1880 demonstrates an accumulation of knowledge of British sexuality that would have amazed an observer only a decade ago.' - Sam Pryke, Sexualities

'...Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880 is an ideal textbook for students. It offers the best overview of the development of sexuality in Twentieth-century Britain, and promises to become essential reading for anyone interested in the topic, or to anyone hoping to teach a course on the topic. There is enough primary material to make important contributions to the field of the history of sexuality, and the synthesis of previous historical writing, which was long overdue, is both thought-provoking and convincing.' - Ivan Dalley Crozier, Journal of the History of Sexuality

'This is an excellent overview which fills a gap in the market.' - C. Collette, Edge Hill University College

From the Author:

This book covers the entire twentieth century
Sex, Gender and Social Change does not only deal with the Victorian era: while it includes a substantial introductory chapter on the Victorian background, and two chapters on the final decades of the nineteenth century, the bulk of the book is about the twentieth century, in fact it goes up to summer 1999 when I handed in the manuscript. The chapter headings are as follows: Introduction; Chapter 1: The Victorian Background; Chapter 2: Social purity and evolving sex in the 1880s; Chapter 3: Scientific sex, unspeakable Oscar, and insurgent women in the 'naughty nineties'; Chapter 4: Degenerating nation? Anxieties and protests in a new century; Chapter 5: Divorce, disease, and war; Chapter 6: Roars of rebellion, roars of reaction: the ambivalences of the twenties; Chapter 7: Population fears and progressive agendas during the thirties; Chapter 8: War and the Welfare State; Chapter 9: Domestic ideology and undercurrents of change in the fifties; Chapter 10: Swinging? for whom? The sixties and seventies; Chapter 11: Approaching the millennium

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0333650522
• ISBN 13: 9780333650523
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264