The Middle Classes

The rise of the English middle class from the mid-nineteenth century onwards is one of the great untold stories of social history. Many of the most profound cultural changes of the twentieth century - the rise of concepts like professionalism, privacy, respectability, consumerism, the centrality of home - were driven by the inexorable expansion of the suburban middle class. The original BBC2 series (broadcast in early 2001) was rapturously received, combining interviews from over 50 people telling their own stories with comment and analysis by prominent historians and sociologists. The book will share this structure but will explore the subject in much greater depth.