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« The Land Questions: #20 Affordable Housing | Main | The Earth-for-All Calendar: February 21 -- Marx »

February 20, 2012

Downton Abbey: The Landed Gentry

I had the pleasure of watching part of a marathon of the second season of Downton Abbey yesterday, knowing that I'd missed a few shows -- and want to watch them all in sequence.

The setting of the show raises some questions one might want to think about.

1. What sort of wages do all the "downstairs" employees receive?

2. What employment alternatives are available to them?

3. How does the owner of Downton Abbey afford to pay for the services of all those workers, in addition to the non-wage costs of maintaining the castle and the surrounding land, which is an overwhelming job -- and passion -- for him?

4. Is there a middle class in that town?  On what are their fortunes dependent?  How are they different from the staff at Downton Abbey?

5. What are the opportunities for the children of the house staff at Downton Abbey to have a different life from their parents?

6. Can others prosper?

7. What sorts of ideas, particularly on public policy, maintain the status quo?

8. Why is having the property pass intact to one person so important?  What would happen if it were divided among several heirs?

9. Do you think there are small holdings in the same area, where individual families can live, work and prosper, or a series of large holdings like DA?

10. Are people unemployed or underemployed? Are their opportunities limited by the system, particularly if they care about staying close to family?

This is off the top of my head.  I'm charmed by the series, and at the same time, am puzzled by how much I enjoy watching it.  (Good writing, of course.)

Posted on February 20, 2012 at 08:38 PM in a wedge driven through society, all benefits go to landholder , buildings depreciate, cui bono?, equal freedom, equality, income concentration, land appreciates buildings depreciate, land rent, landed gentry, landlordism, opportunity, popular ignorance of land economics, private property in land, property rights, prosperity, rich people's useful idiots, sharecropping, the land questions, time making wrongs into rights, underused land, unemployment and underemployment, wages driven down, wealth distribution or concentration |

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