Middle classes

"Middle Classes: Their Rise and Sprawl traces the story of the English middle classes from the mid-ninteenth century to the present day. It draws on the memories and life stories of individuals and families, as well as the words of distinguished historians and social commentators to provide a compelling picture of this most influential and elusive of classes: who they are, where they came from and what their future may hold. It tracks the emergence of the middle class as a recognisable social grouping from its Victorian roots, through the mushrooming growth of suburbia between the two Wars, to the far-reaching changes in the world of work in the closing decades of the twentieth century. The book examines the tradition of middle-class protest and radical social reform, and considers the deeply held belief in education which underpinned the growth of the public school system and the great Education Acts of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.