ABSTRACT
Many towns and cities of eighteenth-century Europe experienced significant, often rapid, growth. For example Aberdeen expanded from just over 10 000 in 1755 to over 16 000 by the 1790s; Berlin grew from 8000 in 1648 to 170 000 in 1790. The population of Copenhagen quadrupled between 1660 and 1760 and London increased by a third in the second half ofthe eighteenth century.1 At the same time towns were at the centre of commercial developments which meant that more goods and services were available to support the urban community. The middle classes were developing an identity and an awareness of their position while the processes of industrial and commercial change meant that there was greater tension between the 'employers' and the 'workers'. Significantly, workplace relations were undergoing important transformations which were neither uniform in effect nor which took the same route in towns across Europe. Demographic change and the increasing use of rural industry outside the control of the corporate structures of many towns, meant that men, particularly artisans, were increasingly aware of their vulnerability in the workplace. This chapter will explore the ways in which the tensions of claiming position in the urban workplace and the struggles to retain status at work were reflected in a gendering of the workplace in new and important ways which had long-standing resonance.
