Ladies of the Leisure Class - The Bourgeoises of Northern France in the 19th Century (Paperback, Limited Ed)

In a social and cultural study of nineteenth-century bourgeois women in northern France, Bonnie Smith shows how the advent of industrialization removed women from the productive activity of the middle class and confined them to a largely reproductive experience. Out of this, she suggests, they created their own world, centered on domesticity, family, and religion. To understand these women, the author argues, it is necessary to examine their world on its own terms as a coherent whole. Professor Smith draws on demographic, psychoanalytic, anthropological, linguistic, as well as historical insights and uses a variety of evidence that includes personal interviews, photographs, letters, genealogical records, and traditional archival sources. Part One outlines the transition from mercantile to industrial manufacturing that terminated the relationship between home and business and that separated the sexes according to their respective functions. Part Two concentrates on the lives of the women following their acceptance of an exclusively reproductive function and shows how the interdependence and fusion of household chores, religious values, and social conscience fostered a unified cultural system. Part Three, then, explores the propagation of this domesticity by the convent, as the primary educational system, and by the sentimental novel, as the vehicle most suited for an ideological expression of domestic life.

General

Imprint:	Princeton University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	October 1981
First published:	October 1981
Authors:	Bonnie G Smith
Dimensions:	203 x 127 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	320
Edition:	Limited Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-691-10121-7
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > Women's studies > General
LSN:	0-691-10121-3
Barcode:	9780691101217

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!