The middle of the eighteenth century up to the Second World War was a period of dramatic and rapid social and economic change in Britain. This volume, collect five papers, covering:

- Ceremony, custom and ritual: some observations on social conflict in the rural community, 1750–1850

- The social structure of Lostwithiel in the early nineteenth century

- Secularisation and the care of the poor in Scotland

- Unemployment relief works in Southampton between the wars

- The voluntary response to mass unemployment in South Wales