Language of Gender and Class

‘Queen Lilies’? The Interpenetration of Scientific, Religious and Gender Discourses in Victorian Representations of Plants

“…gender' was used 'to contain the class issue in the first half of the nineteenth century'. 44 But if the definitions of femininity and class were selfconfirming and mutually defining we can also see the terminology of social class being used to contain issues of gender. Priscilla Wakefield had argued in 1817 that the distinctions of society would be endangered 'by arousing a passion for science in the bosoms of individuals' of too low a condition to gratify it.…”

Thomas Hardy and the Value of Brains

“…The novel bears witness to the truth of Rancière's assertion that "what stultifies the common people is not their lack of instruction, but the belief in the inferiority of their intelligence" (Ignorant Schoolmaster, 39). Like The Woodlanders, Jude assails the idea that there are "two humanities" or "two levels of intelligence," but in Jude this is above all an indictment of what we are encouraged to understand as the Victorian class theology of intelligence, the division of the world into "thoughtful and mentally shining ones" (22) and the "despairing worthless" (71).…”

“…Galton's fascination with the capacity of exams to sort and rank people on a mass scale directly led to his efforts to construe intelligence in statistical terms (Galton,Hereditary Genius,(6)(7)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). Galton argued that intelligence levels within a population obey the statistical law of normal distribution, clustering densely around a norm and creating the familiar bell-shaped curve on a graph: nature predictably yields a preponderance of mediocrities, a relatively small cognitive elite, and a relatively small class of "idiots and imbeciles" (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36).…”

“…The supposed physiological limits and risks of education were widely discussed. There was a spate of government inquiries into the problem of "ineducable" children; doctors entered schools to perform physical tests on students and classify them as being above, below, or of average mental capacity (Sutherland,Ability,Merit,and Measurement,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Meanwhile, a chorus of scientists and intellectuals proclaimed that Darwinian evolution or modern understandings of heredity had revealed that the French and American revolutionary principle of "natural equality" was an abject fantasy: human inequality was a scientific fact, and it expressed itself most starkly in intellectual differences.…”

'Queen Lilies'? The Interpenetration of Scientific, Religious and Gender Discourses in Victorian Representations of Plants

“…43 In The Language of Gender and Class Patricia Ingham argues that '"femininity" had as corollary social class' and that 'the language of gender' was used 'to contain the class issue in the first half of the nineteenth century'. 44 But if the definitions of femininity and class were selfconfirming and mutually defining we can also see the terminology of social class being used to contain issues of gender. Priscilla Wakefield had argued in 1817 that the distinctions of society would be endangered 'by arousing a passion for science in the bosoms of individuals' of too low a condition to gratify it.…”