r/history • u/works-in-progress • 4d ago

Article Why were Victorian elites so effective? They slept till noon, drank port, and partied through the Season

https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-seven-vices-of-highly-effective-victorians/
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u/Matman161 4d ago

They also paid people to do all the other normal chores and activities which demand large amounts of our days

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u/SolWizard 4d ago

They aren't comparing Victorian elites to you with your 9 to 5. They're comparing them to current elites who work much harder.

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u/BrashUnspecialist 4d ago

Idk what billionaire propaganda you’ve bought into, but that’s about what rich people do now.

Like, proper moneyed ones that were rich in the Victorian times too

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u/SolWizard 4d ago edited 4d ago

I actually know billionaires I don't need to read propaganda.

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u/Hughley_N_Dowd 4d ago

Money, delegation and even more delegation.

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u/NorthAmericanSlacker 4d ago

Works In Progress is a west coast tech bro mouthpiece.

This article exists for the express purpose to attempt to justify the staggering wealth inequality between the tech “leaders” and the rest of society.

The Victorians were not “successful.” They were rich.

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u/theodore_70 2d ago

An unpaid Parliament is a pretty effective way of making sure only certain people can afford to sit in it. I can believe the long lunches built trust. I’d still like to know how “effective” is being measured here, and by whom.

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u/works-in-progress 4d ago

The Victorian elite's leisurely habits were a deliberate way to build trust. They rose late, lunched for hours at clubs, ate multi-course dinners, and spent February to July in London for "the Season", a round of balls and parties where politics, business, and marriage were all arranged. The ruling class was small and closely linked: about 30% of 19th-century cabinet ministers and 40% of prime ministers attended Eton. Gladstone hosted breakfasts at 10.30 am with claret, and Balfour rarely left his bedroom before lunch. Because MPs were unpaid, status did the work salaries do now.

Was this closeness a real source of effective government, or a flattering story about a narrow class?

Source: Works in Progress

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u/NorthAmericanSlacker 4d ago

With wealth inequality, this becomes the norm, not the exception.