The experience and construction of the vagabond in England, 1650-1750
This thesis studies the social experience and cultural construction of vagrancy between 1650 and 1750 in England. It interrogates popular and elite literature, the records of criminal justice, parochial accounts, correspondence, and the printed word to tell a story about how attitudes towards vagrancy were constructed, reinforced, or problematised, and how the historical experiences of the mobile poor were affected by these attitudes. It argues that popular attitudes towards vagrancy were more nuanced and ambiguous than previously supposed, and that rogues, anti-heroes, and biography were tightly linked to key changes in literature in the later seventeenth century, such as the emergence of the novel. It recovers fragments of vagrant lives, and echoes of their voices, from the records of local justice, and disagrees with the current consensus that vagrants were clearly separable from other poor migrants in contemporary accounts. It charts the rise of âpolitical economyâ and the urge to quantify vagrancy, and to transform vagrants into a productive national resource. Finally, this thesis argues that the social experience and cultural construction of the vagabond cannot, and must not, be separated in any
Hitchcock, David J.
DA Great Britain ; HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
The experience and construction of the vagabond in England, 1650-1750. This thesis studies the social experience and cultural construction of vagrancy between 1650 and 1750 in England. It interrogates popular and elite literature, the records of criminal justice, parochial accounts, correspondence, and the printed word to tell a story about how attitudes towards vagrancy were constructed, reinforced, or problematised, and how the historical experiences of the mobile poor were affected by these attitudes. It argues that popular attitudes towards vagrancy were more nuanced and ambiguous than previously supposed, and that rogues, anti-heroes, and biography were tightly linked to key changes in literature in the later seventeenth century, such as the emergence of the novel. It recovers fragments of vagrant lives, and echoes of their voices, from the records of local justice, and disagrees with the current consensus that vagrants were clearly separable from other poor migrants in contemporary accounts. It charts the rise of âpolitical economyâ and the urge to quantify vagrancy, and to transform vagrants into a productive national resource. Finally, this thesis argues that the social experience and cultural construction of the vagabond cannot, and must not, be separated in any
experience construction england study social_experience cultural construction england interrogates popular elite literature record criminal_justice parochial account correspondence print word tell_story attitude_towards construct reinforce historical experience mobile poor affect attitude argues popular_attitude towards nuanced ambiguous previously suppose anti heroes biography tightly link key change literature emergence novel recovers fragment life echo voice record local justice disagree current consensus clearly separable poor migrant contemporary account chart rise political_economy urge quantify transform productive national resource finally argue social_experience cultural construction must separate