The Conundrum of Class: Public Discourse on the Social Order in America, Volume 10Martin Burke traces the surprisingly complicated history of the idea of class in America from the forming of a new nation to the heart of the Gilded Age. Surveying American political, social, and intellectual life from the late 17th to the end of the 19th century, Burke examines in detail the contested discourse about equality—the way Americans thought and wrote about class, class relations, and their meaning in society. Burke explores a remarkable range of thought to establish the boundaries of class and the language used to describe it in the works of leading political figures, social reformers, and moral philosophers. He traces a shift from class as a legal category of ranks and orders to socio-economic divisions based on occupations and income. Throughout the century, he finds no permanent consensus about the meaning of class in America and instead describes a culture of conflicting ideas and opinions. |
Contents
The Social Taxonomies of Revolutionary America | 1 |
A Republican Distribution of Citizens | 22 |
The Poetics and Politics of Productive Labor | 53 |
The Rhetoric of Reconcilable Class Conflict | 76 |
The Harmony of Interests An American Ideology of Social Interdependence | 108 |
The War between Capital and Labor | 133 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith Address American analysis antagonism argued arguments Bank Boston Cambridge capital capitalists Carey Century changes Chicago citizens Civil classification common concepts Constitution contested Convention Cooper critics Culture David debate Democratic developed discourse discussed distinctions division Early economists England English equality Essays Federalist groups Hamilton harmony Henry History HOPE Ideas Ideology important included industrial interests interpretations Jacksonian James John Journal laboring classes language laws liberal London Maclure Magazine manufacturers Marxism means Mechanics middle moral natural North noted observed occupation Origins Oxford party Philadelphia Philosophy Political Economy poor popular position practical present principles producers question radical ranks reform relations Reprint Republic Republican Review rhetoric rich Robert Science Scottish social social order Social Science society sources Studies suggested Taylor Theory Thomas Thought tion trade Union United University Press wages wealth writings York