The Archaeology of Class in Urban America

An engaging study which looks at archaeological, documentary and environmental evidence to explore the factors determining class identity.

Stephen A. Mrozowski (Author)

9780521853941, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 March 2006

212 pages
25.4 x 18.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.54 kg

Review of the hardback: 'The processes of class formation and distinction are ongoing in American cities. For those interested in those processes, The Archaeology of Class in Urban America is a 'must read'.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal

No examination of contemporary urban communities would be complete without the discussion of class identity. But how did class identity inform the urban communities of yesteryear? Taking Newport, Rhode Island in the eighteenth century and Lowell, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, at the peak of their economic powers when they represented some of the purist forms of capitalist production in North America, as case studies, this book explores the material and biological manifestations of class identity. Stephen Mrozowski uses a combination of documentary research, material cultural studies, and environmental archaeology to probe the lives of artisans, merchants, and mill workers in these urban communities. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to fully examine burgeoning notions of class, he offers significant insights into the factors shaping those notions. This engaging study, supported throughout by tables, illustrations and graphs, is required reading for all students of urban history and historical archaeology.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Individuals in context: the world of eighteenth century Newport
3. Shifting the focus: archaeology of the urban household
4. A new world created: nineteenth century Lowell
5. Interrogating the experiment: Lowell's urban space and culture
6. Conclusion: contested spaces and the threads of everyday life
7. Epilogue: towards a dialectical archaeology of class
Appendix A. Isolating and dating archaeological assemblages in the urban context.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD], Archaeology [HD]