In nineteenth-century England, an assertive element of the working classes, identified as Chartists, fought for sweeping democratic reforms of government and society. In response, the Victorian Christian Socialists, Charles Kingsley, John Malcolm Ludlow and Frederick Denison Maurice attempted to direct the working classes away from the Chartist agenda through the rhetoric of rights and duties in Politics for the People. Until this date, a monograph commenting exclusively on Politics has not been published. Consequently, Torben Christensen's analysis of the paper in Origin and History of Christian Socialism is the best available commentary. The most current, sophisticated delineation of these individuals and their relations to society has been accomplished by Edward Norman in his study of Church and Society in England and in his collection of biographies, The Victorian Christian Socialists. The religious opinions which the Christian Socialists expressed toward the social order may be explained with reference to the sociological theories of Max Weber, Richard Tawney, Ernst Troeltsch and Richard Niebuhr. Their observations and descriptions of typical attitudes provide a matrix for considering and comparing the various attitudes of the Christian Socialists. The sociological theories of Peter Berger will be relied upon to sort out which among the various possible perspectives on society each of the main contributors to Politics held. Berger's works provide the paradigmatic interpretive sociology suitable for analysis of both religious beliefs and social attitudes as cultural phenomena. Where attention turns specifically to literature, the literary theory of Raymond Williams will be used to augment the Bergerian model. A modified Bergerian methodology will facilitate the delineation of the material and ideological forces which influenced the Christian Socialists. The purpose of this dissertation is to expand the historical and biographical research already accomplished in order to give a more precise account for and an indepth analysis of the ideological differences expressed by Maurice, Kingsley and Ludlow in Politics for the People. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-04, Section: A, page: 1635. / Major Professor: Fred Standley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77706 |
| Creators | Simmons, David Dale |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 337 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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