The second volume examines the nature of social classes and cultures from the late-eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The book first looks at the ways in which contemporaries and historians have viewed classes and how a ‘class’ society developed as the result of economic change. The remaining three chapters follow the conventional three class definition and consider the working-classes, middle-classes and upper-classes. Particular regard is placed on the changing role of working-class and middle-class women and how their economic, social and cultural roles changed when faced with massive economic dislocation and male-dominated outlooks