With much recent work in Victorian studies focused on gender and class differences, the homogenizing features of 19th-century culture have received relatively little attention. In Making a Social Body, Mary Poovey examines one of the conditions that made the development of a mass culture in Victorian Britain possible: the representation of the population as an aggregate—a social body. Drawing on both literature and social reform texts, she analyzes the organization of knowledge during this period and explores its role in the emergence of the idea of the social body.
Poovey illuminates the ways literary genres, such as the novel, and innovations in social thought, such as statistical thinking and anatomical realism, helped separate social concerns from the political and economic domains. She then discusses the influence of the social body concept on Victorian ideas about the role of the state, examining writings by James Phillips Kay, Thomas Chalmers, and Edwin Chadwick on regulating the poor. Analyzing the conflict between Kay's idea of the social body and Babbage's image of the social machine, she considers the implications of both models for the place of Victorian women. Poovey's provocative readings of Disraeli's Coningsby, Gaskell's Mary Barton, and Dickens's Our Mutual Friend show that the novel as a genre exposed the role gender played in contemporary discussions of poverty and wealth.
Making a Social Body argues that gender, race, and class should be considered in the context of broader concerns such as how social authority is distributed, how institutions formalize knowledge, and how truth is defined.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Mary Poovey has recently retired from her position as Samuel Rudin University Professor in the Humanities at New York University. She is the author of numerous books, including A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society and Genres of the Credit Economy: Mediating Value in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.85. Seller Inventory # G0226675246I4N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.85. Seller Inventory # G0226675246I3N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00069560696
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 15033572-6
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Good. Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD PAPERBACK Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M0226675246Z3
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: Solr Books, Skokie, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: VeryGood. 1995 paperback edition with alternate blue/yellow/white color scheme cover (255 pages).\r\n\r\n. Seller Inventory # 5D400000A865_ns
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Amazing Books Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Good. Solid paperback. Bent corner, small crease on cover. KM. Seller Inventory # Sq30044
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Atlantic Bookshop, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 8vo, card covers, x, 255pp. First edition. VG: very lightly sunned at the spine, mild rubbing to the covers; solid binding; unmarked text; clean covers. Seller Inventory # ATLMPMaSBBCF
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book House in Dinkytown, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. Good paperback copy, from a personal collection (NOT ex-library). Spine is uncreased, binding tight and sturdy. Pencil markings made by an anthropology professor from the University of Minnesota. Light shelfwear. A nice reading/study copy. Ships from Dinkytown in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Seller Inventory # 294848
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within 1.03. Seller Inventory # bk0226675246xvz189zvxgdd
Quantity: 1 available