ABSTRACT
One shall return to the question of choice, for food was beginning to become a matter of choice for some working-class families towards the end of the century. Nevertheless, the basic struggle for existence continued to remain for a long time the pervasive theme. One must still reiterate, however, that precisely as the need to be in employment became more and more imperative, and the rigour of the new factory discipline became increasingly formal, so the working class seemed to react by withdrawing their primary, orientating energies from the function that gave them their name. Even more unsuccessful than the temperance movement was the middle-class attempt, on a municipal basis, to transplant the culture of museums and art galleries into a working-class setting. Response was positive only when the new provisions chimed in with specific working-class needs.
