Ineffective Institutions in Dickens's Hard Times

Dickens began Hard Times for These Times in 1854, and the novel was published serially in his magazine Household Words.  The serial publication of the novel was not unique; Dickens preferred this method of publication.  His decision to publish the novel in Household Words was taken to boost sales of the magazine, which had recently declined.2  The publication of the novel came after that of Bleak House, which looked at social ills through the lens of Chancery Court, and before that of Little Dorrit, which viewed social ills as permeating everything, much as prison life permeated the lives of the characters in Little Dorrit.