num_pages: 248
description: Fox-hunting, principal leisure-activity of the English aristocracy, was one of the pillars of English landed society. It was - and is - a central rural institution, a symbol of comforting features of traditional, pre-industrial society, and one of the chief promoters of national harmony up to 1885. This book, by studying hunting and its role in society, provides a clearer understanding of the way in which that landed society functioned, of the assumptions that governed it, of the role of its institutions, and its traditional, deferential relationship. It emphasises the strength of older pre-industrial assumptions/relationships which so long withstood industrial pressures until the agricultural depression ended the economic domination of the landed classes and eliminated many of the supports of deferential society. Dr. Itzkowitz begins from the date when the sport took its modern form, being adopted over most the country by fashionable and local rural society as both the most aristocratic and the most popular of field sports. He moves from this world of 'old England' through the railway age and ends with the great depression when hunting changed irrevocably.
language: English
title: Peculiar Privilege: A Social History Of English Foxhunting, 1753-1885
titlecomplete: Peculiar Privilege: A Social History Of English Foxhunting, 1753-1885
publisher: Harvester Press