More Sinful Pleasures? Leisure, Respectability and the Male Middle Classes in Victorian England

'Respectability' had great ideological power in Victorian society. But current analyses of middle-class leisure are seriously flawed in over-marginalising less respectable behavior. The paper begins by examining 'respectability' and the non-work contexts where pressures for compliance were strongest, such as the home and the church. It then explores a range of leisure contexts where pressures were far weaker, and where more sinful pleasures such as the drinking of alcohol, gambling, betting and sex outside marriage were more likely to be found. First there were life cycle contexts. Middle-class teenagers, younger unmarried men and men whose families had grown up were far more likely to fall for such temptations. Second, certain middle-class occupational groupings, such as artists, travelling salesmen or those in the drink trade were also more likely to pursue a less respectable lifestyle. Third, the hold of respectability was less strong in locational contexts away from the tyranny of neighbours. The more liminal nature of locations such as the racecourse and the seaside, or the anonymity of large urban areas, and the range of pleasures on offer, could open up multiple leisure identities.