Social change and social conflict in nineteenth century England: A comment

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Abstract
Contributions to the debate over social change and conflict in nineteenth‐century England, despite differences, have much common ground. Particularly, they have a conception of conflict that limits it to a category called ‘protest’. In addition, they subscribe to social control models, to a greater or lesser extent, with detriment to our understanding of rural society. The so‐called ‘open/closed’ dichotomy. which has become a major dimension in the debate, assumes that conflict is absent from the ‘closed’ parish. This paper argues that conflict extends beyond protest, and was a phenomenon of both ‘closed’ and ‘open’ parishes. It further argues, particularly against Wells, that Swing and the opposition to the New Poor Law, did not end in unmitigated failure. A brief examination of the implications for the ‘open/closed’ model is made, with a suggestion that models of class conflict are more appropriate for the study of rural society.