Leisure in the Industrial Revolution by Hugh Cunningham

Leisure in the Industrial Revolution by Hugh Cunningham

First published in 1980. This book is a study of what different classes of society understood by leisure and how they enjoyed it. It argues that many of the assumptions which have underlain the history of leisure are misleading, and in particular the notions that there was a vacuum in popular leisure in the early Industrial Revolution; that with industrialisation there was sharp discontinuity with the past; that cultural forms diffuse themselves only down the social scale, and that leisure helped ease class distinctions. An alternative interpretation is suggested in which popular culture can be seen as an active agent as well as a victim. This title will be of interest to students of history.

Hugh Cunningham is a University of Kent Professor of Social History. He is the author of several publications, including Children and Childhood in Western Culture since 1500 (Longman, 1995), which is widely acclaimed.