Routledge Working-Class Intellectual in 18th-19th Century Britain

This Routledge collection explores the emergence of working-class intellectuals during Britain's transformative period from the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century. The work examines how these figures adopted and adapted the anti-authoritarian language of the middle-class public sphere to forge a distinctive political and cultural identity, whilst infusing it with the subversive force of class consciousness. By analysing a broad range of writings across pivotal historical moments, the collection reveals how working-class intellectuals revolutionised intellectual discourse through their unique perspective. This scholarly work contributes significantly to understanding the complex relationship between class formation, intellectual development, and cultural change during a period that fundamentally shaped modern Britain.