LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Determining factors: social status, wealth, gender, location, religion Growing gap between rich & poor

Increasing importance of education Separation of elite & popular cultures

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Large, multi-roomed homes windows & mirrors

utensils & furnishings specialized rooms

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Access to great variety of food

development of cuisine

Lifestyles of the not-so Rich and Famous Small, dark cottages no glass windows

no separation of rooms often lived with livestock

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Limited variety of food

New products, new pastimes

Growing popularity of new products coffee, tea,

sugar, chocolate tobacco & alcohol

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Coffee houses & taverns

Increasing Urbanization

Fueled by growth of wealthy classes demand for consumer

goods led to more artisans, shopkeepers demand for professionals expanded middle class

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Increasing Urbanization

Effects on middle & upper classes Increased wealth

Improved housing

Increased access to education & professional opportunities

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Increasing Urbanization

Effects on lower classes Increased

poverty Crowded & unsanitary living conditions

Increased drunkenness & disorder

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Increased promiscuity, prostitution & child abandonment

Elite and Popular Cultures

Popular Culture

Mostly oral, but spread of literacy led to publication of books for masses Fairs, carnivals, sports = sources of entertainment

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME

Continued belief in witches, demons, superstition, folk remedies, old traditions

Elite and Popular Cultures

Elite Culture

Entertainment based on classics, literature, high art• ballet, opera, symphony & theaters Increasingly turned

to reason, science, professional medicine

LIFE IN THE OLD REGIME