Debating societies [ Clubs & Societies / Associational culture ]
… America Politics Public sphere Debating societies were commercial ventures that provided the middling and lower orders with arenas of sociability where a broad range of subjects, both frivolous and serious (moral, social, political, … did not advertise their activities). There was overlap in some cases, though: the Select Society of Edinburgh (1754), with its membership of landowners and lawyers, was exclusive and gentlemanly yet rather numerous. 1 Debating societies … , Birmingham in 1774. 5 Those societies seem to have been independent and it is unclear whether they had formal links with the metropolitan society. Other societies existed in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Norwich, …
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