Labouring bodies: living standards and the distribution of food in Britain, 1850-1914

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorBakker, Isabella
dc.contributor.advisorMcNally, David
dc.contributor.advisorMcMichael, Philip
dc.creatorRioux, Sébastien
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-13T13:14:47Z
dc.date.available2016-09-13T13:14:47Z
dc.date.copyright2012-12
dc.degree.disciplinePolitical Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation analyses the social relations of distribution upon which the 'production' of cheap food in Britain between 1850 and 1914 came to rest. It argues that these relations of distribution were essential to the realisation of the potential for the mass of cheap food reaching its shores after 1870. Through a study of the dynamics surrounding key actors (e.g. public markets, street sellers, shopkeepers, co-operative stores, multiples) of the food distributive chain, I demonstrate that food distribution during this period was a turning point in the political economy of food and a crucial element in rising real wages and working-class living standards. The dissertation makes two fundamental claims. The first is that the study of food cannot be reduced to quantitative measures alone and that the changing quality and physical and nutritional properties of food need to be analysed to understand people's health and well-being. My second claim is that the notion of distribution must be understood in its wider sense as a social and material process through which food is unevenly distributed in time and space amongst the members of the society and the household. In this respect, the dissertation documents the close relationship between living standards and the distribution of food, and the ways in which food is embodied in socially differentiated ways.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/31979
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subject.keywordsliving standards
dc.subject.keywordsfood distribution
dc.subject.keywordscheap food
dc.subject.keywordspolitical economy
dc.subject.keywordsworking class
dc.subject.keywordsBritain
dc.titleLabouring bodies: living standards and the distribution of food in Britain, 1850-1914
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Rioux_Sebastien_2013_PhD.pdf
Size:
16.3 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.36 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Political Science

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.