• The mid-Victorian economy and the opening up of world trade.
  
• The growth of the middle class
  
• The development of a labour movement and the role of women
  
• Growing competition from abroad and the impact of two world wars
  
• The problems of economic growth and social welfare sing 1945
  

This new edition extend to the New Right Policies of the Thatcher government and assesses the implications of its economic and social aims.