Two early movements of the nineteenth-century within Victorian England were the temperance movement and the teetotal movement. Both of these movements were focused on alcohol consumption. The teetotal movement revolved around totally abstaining from alcohol use, and the temperance movement revolved around using alcohol in moderation. According to Susan Zieger with Standford University, who wrote the article “Temperance, Teetotalism, and Addiction in the Nineteenth Century” that is published on The Victorian Web, “the temperance movement was led by middle-class social reformers and philanthropists who wanted to manage an unruly working class.” Furthermore, Zierger claims that these same people aimed at persuading the working-class to spend their money on “middle-class comforts” such as furniture and watches. Furthermore, according to Rebecca Smith, “the Victorians also valued the idea of self-help, claiming that an individual grow through personal effort.” It is for this reason that those who did not make a choice to improve their education and low class within society were seen as failures (Smith). Smith claims that temperance was a way for these men to prove they were not lazy and that they cared about their social status. Smith notes that the temperance movement, which began in the 1830s, had several stages, and connects the rise of the temperance movement with the need for alert workers to run an industrial society.
On the flip side, the teetotal movement was started in response to the temperance movement. The leaders of the teetotal movement, which Zieger claims was most popular in the 1830s and 1840s, were actually working-class men. Smith claims many working-class men “… were insulted by the temperance movement and believed that its leaders were hypocritical because they implied that the problem of drunkenness lay only in the working-class.”
The first part of the temperance movement focused on controlling drunkenness rather than abolishing the sale of alcohol (Smith). It was thought that selling beer instead of hard liquor (gin) would allow for social drinking without intoxication (Smith). However, in 1832, the teetotalers were formed and wanted an alcohol-free society (Smith). The teetotaler movement made a social problem for the middle-class who had started the temperance movement since, according to Smith, they liked to drink wine when dining at someone’s home. Smith claims that as the teetotal group was a group of working-class men advocating for working class advancement, more working-class men wanted to join. Smith claims that one of the reasons that the teetotal movement did not continue is that working-class men did not have the skill in business to manage funds and organize the movement.
Works Cited
Smith, Rebecca. “The Temperance Movement and Class Struggle in Victorian England.” http://people.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1992-3/smith-r.htm
Zieger, Susan. “Temerpance, Teetotalism, and Addiction in the Nineteenth Century.” The Victorian Web. 2002. http://www.victorianweb.org/science/addiction/temperance.ht