Politics in mechanics' institutes, 1820-1850 : a study in conflict
Mechanics' institutes were supported and opposed by members of all the major political and religious groupings in the period 1820-1850. The institutes transmitted different political, economic, cultural, and religious programmes, explicit and hidden, according to which group or alliance of groups was in control. The institutes were used for different purposes by different political groups. The major power groups, assumed to be in conflict or alliance on any particular institute were: a reformist whig group heavily representative of the middle class and tending to non-conformism; a conservative traditionalist group heavily representative of the landed class and tending to anglicanism; and a radical working class group. Institutes can be categorised on the basis of the conflict-alliance relationship of these three classes, and six categories are postulated and C6U1 be tested against the histories of individual institutes. Examples of institutes are found to exist for all six categories, although some institutes are hybrid and others move between categories over time. Most of the institutes examined reflected the economic and political assumptions of urban industrial capitalism, though in many cases with some
Turner, Colin M.
History
Politics in mechanics' institutes, 1820-1850 : a study in conflict. Mechanics' institutes were supported and opposed by members of all the major political and religious groupings in the period 1820-1850. The institutes transmitted different political, economic, cultural, and religious programmes, explicit and hidden, according to which group or alliance of groups was in control. The institutes were used for different purposes by different political groups. The major power groups, assumed to be in conflict or alliance on any particular institute were: a reformist whig group heavily representative of the middle class and tending to non-conformism; a conservative traditionalist group heavily representative of the landed class and tending to anglicanism; and a radical working class group. Institutes can be categorised on the basis of the conflict-alliance relationship of these three classes, and six categories are postulated and C6U1 be tested against the histories of individual institutes. Examples of institutes are found to exist for all six categories, although some institutes are hybrid and others move between categories over time. Most of the institutes examined reflected the economic and political assumptions of urban industrial capitalism, though in many cases with some
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