The play is set in 1912. At the time England had a very rigid social class structure. Broadly speaking this meant a group of upper class people who were very rich and tended to own lots of land and very large houses. The middle classes were generally those with professions such as the law or those who had made money through business. Working class people were much poorer and tended to work in places like factories or coal mines. Many working class people were unemployed and poverty stricken.
In the play Gerald Croft and Mrs Birling represent the upper classes.…
