ABSTRACT
Certainly important changes occurred in the years between the death of Victoria and the First World War that had great significance for the social class system. As we have seen in the previous chapters, the late nineteenth century brought the country slowly towards democracy, and both fiction writers and society at large began to focus on issues of class. But what would happen in the new century with a very different monarch on the throne1
labouringpopulationindustrious,andintimesofprosperitycontented;below,alife whichcriesalmostunheededfromaconditionofperpetualprivation.(277)
Inthispassage,MastermannotesthepersistenceofinequalityinEnglishsociety includingtheproblemofperpetualprivationforthesegmentofthepopulationthat hadbeenthesubjectofconcerntoBooth,Gissingandothers.Buthealsoastutely notesthatthereissomething"superficial"abouttheextravaganceofthewealthy segmentofthepopulationandthatthemiddleclassesseem"bewildered,"suggesting ananxietyabouttheirclassposition.Inthesamechapterheclaimsthatthereisan "illusionofsecurity"(myemphasis)atthetimeofhiswriting.Andashistorian DavidCannadinechroniclesinhisrecentaccountofthisperiod,TheDeclineand FalloftheBritishAristocracy,vasteruptionsweretakingplaceintheclassordering ofBritishsociety,especiallywithregardtotheupperechelons.
