Upper Class Values
The upper class (the elite) valued history, heritage, lineage and the continuity of their family line. They believed that they were born to rule through divine right and they wanted this right to continue. They had a paternalistic view of society, seeing themselves as the father in the family of society. Noblesse oblige was their belief that it was the elite's duty to take care of society. The elite hoped to continue tradition and the status quo, through institutions such as the law of primogeniture (first born son inherits everything). The elite intended to stay on top and wealthy. However, when a financial crisis threatened their position, they adapted and opened up their ranks to the wealthiest of the middle class, allowing them to buy a place within the ranks of the elite The elite were landed gentry and so they did not have to work, and instead enjoyed a life of luxury and leisure. While the elite maintained their traditional values, Victorian values and attitudes changed and the elite began to recognize and promote the middle class.
Read more about this topic: Victorian Morality, The Elite and Middle Class Values
Famous quotes containing the words upper class, upper, class and/or values:
“The enemy are no match for us in a fair fight.... The young men ... of the upper class are kind-hearted, good-natured fellows, who are unfit as possible for the business they are in. They have courage but no endurance, enterprise, or energy. The lower class are cowardly, cunning, and lazy. The height of their ambition is to shoot a Yankee from some place of safety.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The enemy are no match for us in a fair fight.... The young men ... of the upper class are kind-hearted, good-natured fellows, who are unfit as possible for the business they are in. They have courage but no endurance, enterprise, or energy. The lower class are cowardly, cunning, and lazy. The height of their ambition is to shoot a Yankee from some place of safety.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“We are the only class in history that has been left to fight its battles alone, unaided by the ruling powers. White labor and the freed black men had their champions, but where are ours?”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“Individually, museums are fine institutions, dedicated to the high values of preservation, education and truth; collectively, their growth in numbers points to the imaginative death of this country.”
—Robert Hewison (b. 1943)