1. Life in the Emerging Urban Society
Chap 24
Life in the Emerging Urban Society

2. 19th century Industrial City
Walkable for all but upper classes
Row houses
6 -10 people in a room
Tightly packed city centers
No parks or open spaces
Disease spread quickly
Primitive sewer systems
Sewage seeped into cellars, ran down streets
200+ people to an outhouse
By 1891 – 56% of Europeans lived in urban areas

4. Changes to City Living
Government at both local and federal levels were not taking an active role in public health until…
1846 – cholera outbreak
1848 – National Health Board created and began improving sewage system, access to clean, running water
Belief that it was necessary to clean up the “bad odors” that spread disease
Social reformers like Edwin Chadwick – relief to the paupers through revised poor laws
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham – “greatest good for the greatest number” – utilitarianism that would deal with real problems on a scientific basis

5. Changes cont. 1850s – wave of urban planning
Napoleon III – rebuilding Paris for ALL Parisians
Doing away with crowded streets, opening up green areas, bringing in rudimentary public transportation

6. Germ Theory
French scientist Louis Pasteur originally studying fermentation realized that microorganisms were responsible for the fermentation process and could be suppressed by heating the liquid up
Hello Pasteurized milk…(not pasture-ized) “I’ll take my milk raw.”

7. Germ Theory cont.
Joseph Lister – British surgeon – came to realize that airborne germs could infect open wounds (Joseph Lister….ine)
Antiseptic principle – chemical disinfectant applied to a wound to prevent infection
1880s – Germans developed a sterilization process for instruments and operating rooms

8. English Middle Class Status
In 1900, the richest 5% of households received 33% of the nation’s income
~20% considered middle class
“white collar”/upper middle class – architects, engineers, chemists
Middle class – managers, salesmen, accountants
25% income went to food, drink and parties
Proto-Victorian attitudes – anti-gambling, prudish, hard work and self-reliance

10. Working Class 1900 – 4 out of 5 were part of the working class
In Great Britain less than 8% still worked on farms
Highly skilled – 15% - masons, printers
Labor aristocracy –”straightlaced”
Semi-skilled – factory workers
Unskilled – dockworkers, construction workers
Unorganized and divided, basically kept them down

11. Women
Working class – after children were in the picture, worked piecemeal at home – similar to cottage industry
Marriage based on sexual/romantic attraction
Illegitimacy not an issue
In Paris, 155,000 women were registered as prostitutes
Middle and upper class men did not see an issue with being “experienced” prior to marriage or as being unfaithful during -Women, on the other hand…

12. Women cont.
Middle and Upper classes – marriage still based on economic considerations
Virginity and fidelity prized for the WOMAN only

13. Divorce
Even though Henry VIII supposedly started the Anglican church to legalize divorce, new research shows that he actually never did get a divorce (still an annulment, just a legal one under the new church’s rules)
Women were not allowed to bring divorce charges up on their husband unless they could show both infidelity AND another injustice
Women were also considered property of their husbands and therefore had to “succumb” to their husbands’ urges (currently still an issue – is it rape if you’re married?)

14. Changing attitudes Feminism on the rise
Idea of “separate spheres” kept women down – no legal rights
Feminists inspired by Marx and other socialists
“In law, husband and wife are one person, and the husband is that person.” – ouch.
1882 – law granting women property rights in England passes
Church attendance in decline, especially with working classes
Church not speaking to them anymore
Ethnic churches kept largest crowds (common identity)

15. Changing attitudes
Rise in scientific thought and birth of the social sciences (psychology, sociology)
Used for good and bad – social darwinism applied to society to justify atrocious treatment of imperialized nations, women and the poor

16. Art: Realism or Naturalism
Life EXACTLY as it is; typically strictly deterministic
Emile Zola (French) – famous playwright and novelist; exposed the pressures of society on its people – alcoholism, sexuality, violence
Balzac, Flaubert – also French – exposing pettiness of the bourgeois lifestyle
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) – human condition
Leo Tolstoy (Russian) – War and Peace – focusing on the virtues of human experience

17. Jena-Francois Millet, the Gleaners

18. Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers

19. Jacob Riis

20. Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic