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Custom, Wages and Workload in England during Industrialization*

Custom, Wages and Workload in England during Industrialization* CUSTOM, WAGES AND WORKLOAD IN ENGLAND DURING INDUSTRIALIZATION In 1960 Eric Hobsbawm published his seminal essay ‘Custom, Wages and Work-Load in Nineteenth-Century Industry’. At this time he was engaging in his ‘first attempts to collect together’ his papers about labouring men, and, as he put it, ‘to consider some of their implications’. As far as custom, wages and workload were concerned, the implications that he considered were long-lasting and Hobsbawm’s analysis dominated discussions for many years subsequently. The original article had its centre of gravity in the second half of the nineteenth century; it did not refer much to the first half of the century, and even less to the years before then. At the core of his article was the argument that around the 1840s the skilled workers in the new industrial economy learnt the ‘rules of the game’, and the outcome was the concept of a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. The essay was primarily concerned with in- dustrial bargaining, particularly from the mid nineteenth century. Since Hobsbawm wrote, the context of industrial disputes before the 1840s has been examined extensively. What has been * I would like to thank Jeremy Boulton, Eric Hobsbawm, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Past & Present Oxford University Press

Custom, Wages and Workload in England during Industrialization*

Past & Present , Volume 197 (1) – Nov 1, 2007

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References (79)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© Published by Oxford University Press.
ISSN
0031-2746
eISSN
1477-464X
DOI
10.1093/pastj/gtm007
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

CUSTOM, WAGES AND WORKLOAD IN ENGLAND DURING INDUSTRIALIZATION In 1960 Eric Hobsbawm published his seminal essay ‘Custom, Wages and Work-Load in Nineteenth-Century Industry’. At this time he was engaging in his ‘first attempts to collect together’ his papers about labouring men, and, as he put it, ‘to consider some of their implications’. As far as custom, wages and workload were concerned, the implications that he considered were long-lasting and Hobsbawm’s analysis dominated discussions for many years subsequently. The original article had its centre of gravity in the second half of the nineteenth century; it did not refer much to the first half of the century, and even less to the years before then. At the core of his article was the argument that around the 1840s the skilled workers in the new industrial economy learnt the ‘rules of the game’, and the outcome was the concept of a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. The essay was primarily concerned with in- dustrial bargaining, particularly from the mid nineteenth century. Since Hobsbawm wrote, the context of industrial disputes before the 1840s has been examined extensively. What has been * I would like to thank Jeremy Boulton, Eric Hobsbawm,

Journal

Past & PresentOxford University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2007

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