Cultural Transformation in the Consumer Society

In this paper I would like to demonstrate the historical antecedents of the cultural change Britain went through in the nineteenth century as it finds its expression in the construction of a new type of urban institution: the music hall. I will scrutinize the drives that brought in its emergence as a mass entertainment industry by presenting the economic and social factors that prepared the necessary background. By relating the innovations that reshaped the Victorian population, I will try to illustrate the ground upon which this new institution was built. By giving an account of the responses from different sections of the society, I will try to establish the music hall as a product of the new urban population. After delivering a brief history of its evolution I will try to portray the great success it attained. Finally, I will analyse one of the popular entertainment forms it offered in order to understand the values it represented and how it reflected and shaped the cultural trends.

Klappentext

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject History - Miscellaneous, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Centre for British Studies), course: British History, language: English, abstract: In this paper I would like to demonstrate the historical antecedents of the cultural change Britain went through in the nineteenth century as it finds its expression in the construction of a new type of urban institution: the music hall. I will scrutinize the drives that brought in its emergence as a mass entertainment industry by presenting the economic and social factors that prepared the necessary background. By relating the innovations that reshaped the Victorian population, I will try to illustrate the ground upon which this new institution was built. By giving an account of the responses from different sections of the society, I will try to establish the music hall as a product of the new urban population. After delivering a brief history of its evolution I will try to portray the great success it attained. Finally, I will analyse one of the popular entertainment forms it offered in order to understand the values it represented and how it reflected and shaped the cultural trends.