The nineteenth century, the product of the industrial revolution, had experienced an explosive rise in urban populations as there were far more work and opportunity in the cities rather than rural towns and villages. However, such population growth had not been apparent without presenting its own issue and therefore the need of modernisation. Despite this, greater work opportunities allowed for those living and working in the cities to have far more disposable income. Therefore this would allow them to partake in newfound leisure pursuits, as suggested by Rhodes. The formation of the city centre undoubtedly gave rise to thriving local economies and the unprecedented development of a strong consumer culture. The rise of consumer culture had arguably shed light on the differences between classes, between the proliferation of items and respectability of the middle classes to the breadwinner-homemaker relationship of the working classes. Each of those were responsible for influencing separate types of leisure. It is apparent that consumer culture had a profound impact on leisure and the arts however the institutions that were in place to limit the effect of consumer culture were far more significant in preventing pure market consumerism. These institutions such as parliament and the Church issued acts which in turn limited leisure activities. In conjunction with the works of Miller and Bailey, it must be noted that institutions did not determine consumerism, it simply set a behaviour.
The industrial revolution had created a requirement for masses of workers to fuel its factories, which inevitably resulted in mass migration to the cities and therefore mass urbanisation. Mingay explains this by stating that ‘the towns had a certain attractiveness to country people as they became more aware of the greater variety of urban jobs.’ This would prove vital as it could be argued that this mass urbanisation was the very foundation that a new consumer culture could be formed upon. Also, such movement of peoples would have provoked the need for need for a far greater amount of leisure activities to be introduced. This was noticed by Meller who has suggested that ‘the creation of an urban civilisation which would meet the full emotional, intellectual and recreational demands of a nation, could only be the product of conscious, deliberate thought.’ Therefore, the organisation of the changing and developing city required careful consideration if it were to allow for new types of leisure it was necessary to keep with popular pastimes. However the ability to partake in such activities, especially for the working classes, relied on the employers. Employers had recognised that, in the wake of potential working class militancy, that the worker needed to be provided with regular employment and had to be kept content. Factories had relied on a cash-nexus loyalty with its workers, therefore skilful workers would move on if the employers were not providing enough for their services. Rhodes suggests that employers had ‘introduced the idea that men’s wages should be sufficient to maintain a wife and family and that women should make contribution by looking after the home.’ This would therefore create the breadwinner-homemaker relationship. Humphries had noted that ‘family households provided their members with better living conditions than their predecessors,’ as a product of the working man and his domestic wife, which also suggests a better standard of living. The gender roles for the family unit had created a difference in terms of the leisure activities that were available, or rather doable for each gender. As men had worked for the majority of the families income they believed that it was only right if they were able to have their fair portion of it. As a result of the male breadwinner, families had some disposable income however it was not a great amount. This money would have most likely been spent in a public house gambling or playing sport. The reason for these were to offer some form of escapism from the gruelling work day. However, for working class women the money that was left over was spent either on the family or the upkeep of the house. In terms of leisure, women were often of very limited choice. While stating this it must also be mentioned that there women could also work, usually within factories, which would inevitably result in a greater amount of income for the family. Furthermore, in the wake of an explosion of consumerism, Smith suggests that churches were ‘seeking new points of contact with their communities, churches began to offer a range of sporting and other leisure facilities.’ As a result of this a variety of functions and charity events were also hosted to keep up with the rising trend of consumerism. Although the working classes may not have experienced major benefits from the rise in consumer culture in monetary terms, living conditions were arguably better as there was at least some disposable income. On the other hand, consideration of the middle classes and their consumption is also required. Bailey suggests that ‘as the mid-victorian period unfolded, the pursuit of leisure won an increasing number of devotees,’ particularly those among the middle classes. As the middle classes were arguably more conscious of image, or rather more able to take part in the proliferation of items which would represent class and standard. It also appears that such proliferation took part on a domestic level too as De Vries suggests that ‘the strong nineteenth-century demand for servants suggests that the appeal of labor-intensive domestic and health consumption also continued to increase among the well-to-do.’ The factory owning class were arguably the most well-off after experiencing the profit of the rising consumer culture, and therefore more likely to have spare disposable income for use on leisure pursuits. An example of such leisure would perhaps be to join a private sporting club, such as tennis.
Although the rise of consumer culture played a part in forming solid gender roles within the working classes, its necessary to refer to the limitations that were put in place on leisure, or more so what had a limiting effect on consumer cultures. Miller had suggested that 'since the function of leisure for society at large was undergoing rapid transformation in the late Victorian period, deliberate attempts were made to redefine its function.’ By this, it is suggested that cities and policy makers were under going processes to modernise both the city and its vast populations. Institutions such as the Church and Parliament had made attempt to add a restraint on consumer culture. Bailey suggests that ‘leisure constituted a threat to the discipline and cohesion of the bourgeois world not only by virtue of its unprecedented abundance, but because of its new place in the pattern of life.’ This suggests that the threat of pure market consumerism had to be limited and kept in check to therefore develop and modernise cities in an ideal view. Meller states that ‘social reformers concerned with leisure activities had to face competition from popular pastimes, including sport, as well as the old age social attractions of the inns and public houses.’ Parliament had taken action in this however with the implementation of the Sunday Closing Act in Wales (1881) and had attempted to extend this to England also. However as this act was only extended to public houses, it would encourage the introduction of far more private clubs to be built. This suggests that there was a limitation to one type of leisure, whilst promoting another which was perhaps deemed far more respectable in comparison. Another example could be the Cruelty to Animals Act (1835), where there was sanctions against cockfighting, however there was no limitation towards hunting. This shows once more that Government legislation was used to limit leisure and therefore the effects of consumerism. Education may have also had moderating influence on the consumption of leisure. As a higher proportion of the working classes were being educated in the later years of the nineteenth-century, literacy rates were on the increase. Gardener suggests that ‘educational reformers were agreed that it was the uses of literacy that were paramount, and particularly the potential for sober learning as a bulwark against immorality, recklessness and crime.’ With the increased literacy rate and proportion of the masses being at least partly educated, it would provoke the expansion of the cheap press. This is supported by Jones as he states that mass urbanisation ‘further fuelled demand for print… newspapers in particular were poised to take advantage of these circumstances.’ Arguably, its possible from the morality taught with education and the demand for newspapers, readers may have been less likely to read radical papers. An alternative view may be that the educated working classes could perhaps have been more in favour of the government. The development and modernisation of pastimes seems to be a trend which had been most capitalised upon in the nineteenth century. This has been experienced most with sport and in particular football. Croll argues that ‘there was a ‘revolution’ in sport… they were ever more organised and commercialised, and attracted larger numbers of participants and spectators.’ In support of this, Meller suggests that ‘the law was bound to transform the nature of popular pastimes. But many activities became transmuted, not destroyed’ This shows that the success of football would be because of its ‘grass roots’ in its working class background, coupled with heavy investment of the middle classes. This heavy investment had allowed for the building of stadiums which would cater for fans during games, therefore ensuring that professional teams would profit from games. It is possible that the formation of the FA in 1863 had cemented the apparent revolution of football, where the old folk rules were replaced by those of common practice.
Overall it can certainly be said that the rise in consumer culture had great influence on leisure and the arts as it provided both the means and opportunity for both classes to consume new leisures. This was undoubtedly a product of mass urbanisation in the cities and changes to the factory system. Whereby better paid workers acted almost as a foundation for a rise in consumer culture. However, despite the working class gender roles and middle class spending influencing certain types of leisure, there were institutions in place which would limit the effect of consumerism. While these institutions did not determine consumerism entirely, it set a behaviour which would ultimately lead to the commercial exploitation of the urbanised city. This had been mostly experienced within sport with the commercialisation of football, and also the limitations placed upon the public house in favour of the private club. The new patterns set by rising consumer culture had to be limited in order to prevent a completely consumer driven culture. Therefore showing that although a rising consumer culture influences leisure, it is the changes to leisure which aim to limit the consumer culture.