The 1790s: "Visions of Unsullied Bliss"

Roy Porter describes the British experience of the two revolutions, the French and the industrial, against Britain's gradual transformation into a commercial and consumer society. After 1795, the initial enthusiasm about the French revolution declined, yet so did the old stability in the wake of the industrial revolution. These changes led to debate about the virtues and vices of the new age: whereas the Utopian Robert Owen believed industry to be compatible with social reform, the pessimist Thomas Malthus considered the imbalance of production and reproduction an obstacle in the way to the perfectibility ofsociety. Malthus' ideas reflected the effort of the ruling classes to secure their position and contributed to what would come to be called 'Victorianism'.