Britain had suffered an economic depression that lasted into what would be known as the "hungry forties". During this time, there was a period of strikes, widespread unemployment, poor harvests, and depressed trade. This was due to crop failures and thus this resulted in the deaths of many who starved. This was where the new type of genre was created for literature: the social problem novel. This was how Gaskell was able to publish Mary Barton, in relation to this developing trend in fiction. Indeed we can see this throughout the novel. We can see people who were unemployed and thus needed to work in order to get themselves back on their feet. 

Resources: Gaskell, Elizabeth Mary Barton edited Jennifer Foster. 1848, Broadview Literary Texts.

"The British Library" https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/an-introduction-to-mary-barton