The Culture of Sensibility: Sex and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Book Description
Amidst the elegant ballrooms and shadowy alleyways of eighteenth-century Britain, desire crackles in the air, intertwining with societal norms and burgeoning identities. "The Culture of Sensibility" uncovers the intricate dance between sex and society, revealing how emotional intimacy and political power shape lives in an age of enlightenment and upheaval. As the boundaries of passion and propriety blur, a silent revolution brews beneath the surface, challenging conventions and redefining what it means to feel. Will society succumb to repressive ideals, or will the yearning for genuine connection ignite an irrevocable transformation?
Quick Book Summary
"The Culture of Sensibility" by G.J. Barker-Benfield dissects the profound influence of sensibility—a cultural preoccupation with heightened emotional awareness—on eighteenth-century British society. Through literary, social, and political lenses, the book uncovers how sensibility not only shaped personal behavior and relationships but also intersected with broader issues like gender roles, sexuality, and class dynamics. Barker-Benfield charts the emergence of sentimentalism, exploring its roots in Enlightenment thought and its expression across novels, manners, and moral debates. The work demonstrates how sensibility catalyzed shifts in attitudes toward sex, power, and selfhood, contributing both to the empowerment and policing of individuals, particularly women. Ultimately, the book reveals sensibility as a double-edged force: promising empathy and transformation while fueling new mechanisms of control within British society.
Summary of Key Ideas
Table of Contents
The Emergence of Sensibility and Its Intellectual Roots
G.J. Barker-Benfield frames the rise of sensibility as a pivotal point in the intellectual and social landscape of eighteenth-century Britain. Drawing from Enlightenment thought, sensibility emerged as both a celebration of refined emotion and a response to shifts in political and economic life. Thinkers and writers argued that emotional responsiveness was not weakness but a sign of refinement, aligning sensitivity with progress and enlightenment. This outlook influenced a broad array of cultural practices, reshaping ideals of morality, masculinity, and femininity.
Gender, Sexuality, and the Regulation of Desire
Central to Barker-Benfield’s argument is how these evolving ideals of feeling affected gender relations and sexuality. Sensibility’s emphasis on vulnerability and delicacy reinforced female virtue as emotional openness, while casting men in roles ranging from sensitive companions to dangerous libertines. The culture scrutinized and managed sexuality, sometimes masking sexual energy beneath sentimental displays yet also allowing greater openness of emotional expression. Paradoxically, sensibility could both empower women—they gained new rhetorical tools and empathy—and restrict them through narratives of modesty and dependency.
Sensibility’s Role in Social and Class Hierarchies
The culture of sensibility mediated class relations as well. The ability to express refined emotion became a mark of genteel status, distinguished from the supposed crudity of the lower classes. Sentimentality emerged as a lingua franca for polite society, inscribed through literature, social gatherings, and charitable acts. Yet, as sensibility trickled into the broader population, anxieties grew about sincerity, authenticity, and the subversive possibilities of feeling crossing established boundaries.
Literary Expressions and Cultural Mediators of Sensibility
Literature served as a key vehicle for propagating and negotiating sensibility. Novels by writers like Samuel Richardson and Laurence Sterne popularized the tropes of emotional excess, catching both enthusiasm and criticism. The literary market allowed women authors and readers to engage in debates over gender and morality, sometimes subtly undermining the very conventions they appeared to uphold. Through epistolary forms and sentimental narratives, literature blurred distinctions between public and private feeling, mediating personal and collective experience.
Paradoxical Impacts: Empowerment and Control
Barker-Benfield closes by examining the paradoxes inherent in the culture of sensibility. While promising to make individuals and society more humane, sensibility also enabled new channels of surveillance, control, and self-discipline, particularly over sexuality and gender roles. The emotional revolution forged new ideals of selfhood and connection but left individuals navigating tensions between authenticity and conformity. The legacy of sensibility, he argues, lies in its enduring power to shape notions of empathy, sex, and social order—transforming lives even as it reinforced the boundaries it sought to dissolve.
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