HIST 383 Lecture : Demographies of 18th Century Britain
Document Summary
An essay on the principle of population (1798) Look at the big picture demography, population, social structure. What it was like to live in late 17th and 18th century britain; what could people expect out of their lives. Some have a bitter view of time; some romanticize past. Romantic: strong morals, tighter families, low crime - both are wrong. Good way to view past: study fairy tales (mother goose) or collections of folk tales. Good window into what people were concerned about. Why is this stuff getting written down and preserved as both an elite culture and popu- lar culture. Perhaps the elites felt the world was slipping away from them; so they wrote it down so that future generations would understand their lives. Tell facts of life that every child should know, according to their collective wisdom. Solomon grundy: he dies on saturday and buried on sunday; brutal "facts of life" that we"re all gonna die.
