How modern was Britain in the 18th century?

Britain – Economic and Social Change in the 18th Century

In this course, Dr Lawrence Klein (University of Cambridge) discusses economic and social change in the 18th century. In the first module, we introduce the topic by considering the question "how modern was Britain in the 18th century?". After this, we look at the question "was the economy undergoing a revolution in the 18th century?". In the third module, we focus on the question "what did urbanisation mean in the 18th century?". Then, we discuss the question "was society becoming secular in the 18th century?". Finally, we turn to look at the question "was Britain a class society in the 18th century?".

How modern was Britain in the 18th century?

In this lecture, we introduce the topic by considering the question "how modern was Britain in the 18th century?". In particular, we focus on: (i) the two views of Britain as an "old regime" society and a "modern" society; (ii) the ways in which Britain can be seen as an old regime society and a modern society at the same time; (iii) the effects of the political revolutions of the 17th century on social and economic change in the 18th century; (iv) the structure of the subsequent lectures; (v) the effect of war and foreign policy in this period; (vi) the growth in the population of Britain in the long run and how this affected social and economic change in the 18th century; and (vii) the reasons why population began to increase from the middle of the 18th century.