The Leisure Revolution In The 1800's

The nineteenth century not only saw the progression of an Industrial Revolution that brought about economic, cultural, and structural changes but also a "Leisure Revolution" (See (Marcus 1974, Lowerson and Myerscough 1977, Bailey 1978, Walvin 1978, and Cunningham 1980). According to Cunningham, "there is nothing in the leisure of today which was not visible in 1880." This revolution in the ideology and practice of leisure had two distinct phases, that of 1700-1850 and that post-1850.

The earlier period reflected the roots of traditional leisure activities in which work and leisure were integrated in small-scale communal ways of life that were heavily ritualised and bound by the seasons. According to some historians, preindustrial times had a robust and gregarious culture, whose plebeian festivals (markets, fairs, and so on) were regularly patronised by the gentry as part of a paternalistic ethos. As E.P. Thompson's Rough Music argues, beneath all the elaborations of ritual certain basic properties appear, including "raucous ear-shattering noise, unpitying laughter, and the mimicking of obscenities" ("Customs in Common," Chapter 8). These rituals, whether conducted with or without the physical presence of the
Léon Faucher claimed that the urban working class "cannot partake of anything in moderation." This lack of moderation provides only part of the picture, however, although drink and the pub remained a major form of working-class entertainment throughout the Victorian period. Working-class leisure activities also included bowling, quoiting, glee clubs "free and easies" (the foundations of the music hall), amateur and professional dramatics, fruit and vegetable shows, flower shows, sweepstake clubs, and meetings of trades and friendly