Upper class formation and the politics of censorship in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 1872--1892.

Abstract

In the late-nineteenth century, anti-vice societies that attempted to censor art and literature and to eradicate obscenity, gambling, and other vices, were founded, led, and supported by the upper classes of Boston and New York but received virtually no support from the upper class of Philadelphia. Contrary to existing literature on moral reform movements, which explains such movements as status or cultural defense unrelated to class conflict, I argue that the importance of culture in the reproduction of class positions implies that moral reform movements are often a form of class politics. The hypotheses that status or economic insecurity generated anti-vice support are not supported. Instead, analysis of the rhetoric employed by the leaders of the anti-vice societies suggests that support for the anti-vice movement resulted from appeals to members of the upper class about the effect of immorality on the class position of elite children. Comparison of censorship movements in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia suggests that the success of the anti-vice movement varied with the strength of the political and social threat posed by the immigrant working class, but that censorship was more successful when cultural consensus existed within the upper class.