Middle-class Victorians considered literacy and education critical for respectability. Families subscribed to newspapers, maintained home libraries, and encouraged reading aloud. Education was a status signal, and literacy indicated refinement. Reading habits distinguished them from working-class families who might lack access to books. Libraries and reading societies offered both knowledge and networking opportunities. Parents instilled moral and cultural values through literature. Literacy became both a practical tool and social marker.
Education and literacy reinforced middle-class identity and upward mobility.
It shows how access to information was intertwined with class perception and social opportunity.
Did you know some middle-class families required children to read aloud at dinner to demonstrate refinement?
[British Library, britishlibrary.uk]