Sticking with E.P. Thompson, _Whigs and Hunters_ is worth looking
at for the construction of class in the earlier part of the C18.
The full ref. for "Eighteenth-century English Society: Class Struggle
with Class?" is _Social History_ vol. 3, no. 2, 1978, pp. 133-65
On more specific lines, Adrian J. Randall, _Before the Luddites_
deals with constructions of class in the period 1777-1809 in relation
to work and machinery. The last chapter contains an interesting
discussion on whether we can speak about class or class consciousness
in the period Randall is discussing (his own view is that we can't:
he prefers to talk about a community *mentalite'*).
I hope this is of some help.
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John Donaldson
c/o Camatti
via Pimentel, 8
50133 Firenze (FI)
Italia e-mail:donaldso@datacomm.iue.it
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