Examines the changing meanings and representations of social status in Britain during the ‘long eighteenth century,’ circa 1688-1832. Considers whether (and to what degree) Georgian Britons may be regarded as “a polite and commercial people”. Topics include: rank and status; gender roles; manners, politeness, and emulation; consumerism and consumption; mercantilism, trade, and the pursuit of wealth; the ‘middling sort’ and the rise of the middle class; urbanization and non-landed elites; early industrialization.