By Alice Routledge
‘Slumming’ doesn’t mark Koven’s first exploration into the well-versed study of Victorian London yet does act as his first book on the topic of sexual and social politics. To expand upon previous works Koven aims to ‘reorient, a tradition of scholarship linking private conscience and public duty in Victorian culture and society’.[1] Orientating away from the regularly referenced arguments of Peter Mandler, José Harris and Susan Pedersen firmly place him within the historical field as referenced in his and Mandler’s 1997 journal as a ‘new culture historian’ .[2] This is seen through the themes of how society impacts the individual slum goers complex intentions while also emphasising the individuals’ impact on society and consequently social welfare. He does this through an abundance of first-hand accounts. Following the ideas of James Hinton, the central idea of the book is that motivations of the individuals who are slumming are in no way fixed to right nor wrong ethics. As the opposing ethical ideas are intertwined this leads to an inability to describe slumming concisely.
This complex nature can be seen countless times throughout the book as with James Greenwood who wrote the article “A Night” which contradicted his moral standing for the promise of £30 but yet whose actions also indirectly led to the implementation of social reform Acts. Seen again through Dr Barnardo who brought in children off the street yet also subjected them to unwanted sexualisation and Ms Banks who although claimed no means of altruism did stand for the liberation of women. [3] Clearly then, this is significant as it not only shows the complex nature of three motivations behind slumming but a line of argument implemented throughout adding to the value of the book as a source. The argument being that the motivations of these slummers were a mix of the socially accepted norms of good and bad. I would then argue that this strengthens the book’s value as a source as it avoids a simply one-sided argument which could too quickly disregard details.
Another key aspect of Koven’s ‘Slumming’ is the ‘relationship between eros and altruism in shaping social welfare’ [4] which he introduces. This indeed shows influence from the likes of Matthew Houlbrook who spoke of ‘place-specific consumer practices’ [5] in a similar way to which Koven relates the slums. However, Koven again expands upon this idea, by linking how the sexual atmosphere and thus liberty of an area can motivate benevolence in an equal fashion to altruism.
Due to the central themes of sexuality, social welfare and their relationship to slumming being discussed in all the different sections of the book, the key arguments are reiterated often and thus prove to be more convincing. Koven uses an array of primary sources varying from first-hand accounts and newspaper articles to court proceedings to portray this argument. Through this, we are given a greater understanding not only of the period and contextually how it affected the relationship between slumming and social welfare but also of its direct impact on individuals thus making Koven’s aim of the book easier to achieve.
However, Koven has been criticised for ‘only a brief analysis [being] given of who went slumming: the assumption that it was the well-to-do [needing] further quantification.’ [6] However, I would argue that not only does Koven exemplify those who 6 went slumming through famous examples such as David Lloyd George and the Queen. He also demonstrates their characteristics and motivations through detailed individual descriptions such as those of C. R. Ashbee and through specific lists of those who qualified as slumming on pages 3 and 268. Furthermore, Koven comments on this assumption of the class divide as he suggests that the term ‘well-to-do’ and ‘poor’ are useful as it shows the distinct nature of the classes when discussing them and thus leads to a more successful line of argument. [7]
Waddington further critiques; ‘Nor are the responses of the poor to slummers satisfactorily addressed’, [8] despite Koven stating that he would “reconstruct the best he [could] the responses of the poor to their uninvited visitors”. [9] This reduces the quality of the overall argument of the book as Koven fails to fulfil part of his aim. This failure can be seen to be part of a larger issue with this body of work; his over-reliance upon primary accounts of individuals. Although, this use can also be argued to be essential to his argument surrounding the deeper understanding of the individual it eliminates the voice of the poor as he admits that most of the lower or working-class slum dwellers did not have the ‘time nor desire’ to write their opinions down. [10] Although this can be said to detract from his argument, Koven still makes attempts at including their response [11] and the impact on the poor despite these attempts not being as successful as other segments of his argument.
The book, although sustaining a generally successful line of reasoning, does become slightly convoluted at some points with the high volume of description paired with a relatively sparse explanation of how it specifically addresses the desired narrative. This does encourage you to further interact and empathise with the stories told yet frequent tangents result in the point occasionally being lost. More positively, this seems to happen less often in part two as the author takes a broader view of gender in relation to slumming which can be seen in Chapter 4. Despite this, Koven does a good job of eventually tying all these loose strands together elsewhere in the book and thus maintaining the value of his argument.
Overall, the wide array of sources and almost bombardment of information lead to a cohesive explanation throughout and thus a convincing argument. The Northeast Victorian Studies Association of 2004 would seem to agree with that judgement as they awarded him the Sonya Rudikoff Prize for the best first book in Victorian studies.
Footnotes
[1] Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London, (Princeton: Princeton University 1 Press, 2004): p. 3
[2] Peter Mandler and Seth Koven, ‘Cultural histories old and new: Rereading the work of Janet Oppenheim’, Victorian Studies, 41:1, (1997): p. 69
[3] Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London, (Princeton: Princeton University 3 Press, 2004): pp. 32, 90-94, 161
[4] https://history.rutgers.edu/faculty-directory/169-koven-seth [accessed 15 October 2018]
[5] Matt Houlbrook, ‘Toward a Historical Geography of Sexuality’, Journal of Urban History, 27:4 (2001): pp. 5 497-504
[6] Kier Waddington, 'The Economic History Review', New Series, vol. 58, no. 3 (Aug., 2005), pp. 607-608
[7] Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 7 2004)
[8] Kier Waddington, 'The Economic History Review', New Series, vol. 58, no. 3 (Aug., 2005), pp. 607-608
[9] Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton: Princeton University Pres, 9 2004): p.6
[10] Ibid., p.12
[11] The record of a voice shows with no identity yet still exists, the death of a man by the name of flowers yet 11 papers don't care what his name is shows lack of voice, inclusion of the life of Mary Higgs who can be counted as one of the poor. Ibid., pp. 12, 35, 185-189
Bibliography
Matt Houlbrook, ‘Toward a Historical Geography of Sexuality’, Journal of Urban History, 27:4 (2001): pp. 497-504
Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004)
'Koven, Seth - Department of History - Rutgers University’
Peter Mandler and Seth Koven, ‘Cultural histories old and new: Rereading the work of Janet Oppenheim’, Victorian Studies, 41:1, (1997): pp. 69-105
https://history.rutgers.edu/faculty-directory/169-koven-seth [accessed 15 October 2018]
Kier Waddington, 'The Economic History Review', New Series, 58:3 (2005): pp. 607-608
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