Full bibliography

Examines working-class "penny capitalism" in Great Britain and Canada from 1867-1914. Argues that such small, full time (or nearly full time) self-employed producers, often working from home, were a substantial presence in working-class families, as were part-timers, although the latter had mostly a defensive function. Further, penny capitalists, with their petty bourgeois aspirations of social mobility, were inimical to working class homogeneity. Concludes that penny capitalists contributed to the forces of industrialization through their impact on employment, purchasing power, and economic restructuring, as well as meeting, at least to some extent, the local demand for goods and services.