The Social and Economic Structure

Abstract This chapter describes the social and economic structure of Wales which followed the Restoration in 1660. Welsh society attached considerable importance to rank, title, and birth. The social hierarchy was based on widely accepted social conventions, durable and extensive family ties, and, most important of all, wealth and the possession of land. It discusses significant social and economic changes in industry which acquired a greater degree of diversification. Entrepreneurs of wit and imagination had introduced advanced technical and scientific methods which helped to increase production. Internal and overseas trade also witnessed a period of modest expansion. The economy, bereft of large-scale capital, was still backward and underdeveloped. The majority of the population still lived at the subsistence level and was periodically burdened by harvest failures, local famines, and vicious assaults by infectious diseases.