Scientific Culture and Urbanisation in Industrialising Britain

Ian Inkster's Intent

Ian Inkster's intent in these studies is to move beyond the high culture and expertise of science towards the construction of the culture of urban communities.

Research Focus

The work draws on a mass of detailed research and focuses on Britain's social and cultural advantages over other industrialising nations in the years prior to the Great Exhibition of 1851, an advantage which was not created by any single decision, nor by any explicit investment effect.

Urban Culture and Public Sphere

Out of urban culture emerged a public sphere and an information system within which class divisions were abrogated; at the same time the relations between information and technique became complex and decidedly non-linear.

Social Asset and Industrial Britain

So was created a social asset drawn upon by business interests, technicians, tinkerers and inventors throughout the period, and for some considerable time beyond it. Industrial Britain was made from diverse materials, amongst which were those fabricated in the course of cultural dissent and social ambition.