Rhetorics of love in the field of working-class housing in nineteenth century Europe

Abstract

This paper examines the rhetorical uses of the notion of love in the discourses surrounding the issue of working-class housing during the second half of the nineteenth century. The aim is to understand how and for what purposes this notion was mobilised and to explore its architectural and spatial implications. Firstly, the actors (for instance, philanthropists, reformers, or industrialists) involved in this field sometimes presented love as a crucial source of motivation in their actions, using it as an argument to justify their interest in this question. Perhaps more importantly, the architecture, outdoor amenities, and interior layout of the dwellings themselves were supposed to awaken feelings of love within the working-class population. Through the analysis of printed sources from European authors, the study thus focuses on the use of the notion of “love of home” and questions the social and political significance of the links woven, in these discourses, with other types of love, at the confluence of three distinct spheres: individual, family, and nation.