Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational Recreation and the Contest for Control, 1830-1885

Abstract

Introduction 1. Popular recreation in the early Victorian town 2. Rational recreation: voices of improvement 3. The new leisure world of the mid-victorians: the expansion of middle-class recreation, its practic and problems 4. Dispensing recreation to the masses in the new leisure world 5. Rational recreation in operation: the Working Men's Club movement 6. Rational recreation and the new athleticism 7. Rational recreation and the entertainment industry: the case of the Victorian music halls Conclusions