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" Macclesfield eÌlites, 1832-1918 "
Ainscough, Steven.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1095577
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TLets402358
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| Main Entry
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Ainscough, Steven.
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| Title & Author
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Macclesfield eÌlites, 1832-1918\ Ainscough, Steven.
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| College
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University of Liverpool
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| Date
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2003
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| student score
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2003
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The aim of the thesis is the study of Macclesfield's economic, social andpolitical elites between 1832 and 1918. The thesis employs a wide range ofprimary and secondary sources to place the elites of Macclesfield into acontextual framework established by other studies of nineteenth-century urbanleadership. The town of Macclesfield itself provides an interesting subject forthe analysis of elite power as its staple trade, the silk industry, has attractedless historical attention in comparison, say, to the cotton towns of Lancashire.Furthermore, the fact that Macclesfield faced cyclical economic depression andprotracted decline throughout the period "meant that particular emphasis wasplaced upon the role of local leadership and its ability to manage thesituation.A number of important issues regarding the nature of elite power areaddressed in the thesis. The factors which governed the attainment andaccumulation of power resources in the economic, social and political arenasare evaluated, and the question of how `open' the ranks of the elite were tosubordinate members of society is considered. The study also assesses theextent of elite civic participation and attempts to ascertain the motives behindsuch involvement. Connectedly, the relationship between paternalism anddeference is appraised. Crucially, the thesis examines the responses of thelocal elite to economic decline, and focuses upon the ways in which thetown's leadership legitimised and maintained their authority. Furthermore, thestudy attempts to discover whether there was any shift in the structure oflocal leadership during the period.With those issues forming the basis of an investigation into the nature of eliteleadership in the nineteenth century, the thesis reveals a number of significantfindings. It will be shown, for instance, that elite power was, to a largeextent, conditional and dependent upon a two-way process of negotiationbetween the town leaders and the wider community. In that sense, the studydemonstrates that members of the elite had to earn deference and respectthrough the provision of benevolence and acts of philanthropy. The thesis alsoshows that there was a noticeable shift in the balance of urban leadership,whereby the earlier pattern or structure of elite leadership-dominated by thetraditional paternalist employers-was gradually eroded by external factorsbeyond their control. The thesis explores the reasons behind that erosion ofemployer elite power, and examines the factors that allowed for the widerparticipation of subordinate members of society in the arenas of urbanleadership.In view of the debates and issues addressed by the various chapters, it ishoped that the thesis makes a positive contribution to the existing body ofknowledge on nineteenth-century urban leadership, and also stimulates ideasfor subsequent research projects.
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University of Liverpool
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