BIP6 Poverty

Poverty - Historiography

Legislative focus -> social history -> intersectionality -> welfare state

- left argue that although it legitimises capitalism (contains uprising) it offers greater equal access to opportunity

- Right argue that it contributed to B's relative economic decline in 20th spending due to idleness and cost

- Need more focus on non-wc poverty + too focused on shiny new forms of welfare that we neglect continuities and other institutions

Issues with Poverty

- Who are the poor?

- Gender, age, region

- Metric of poverty

- Legislative documents seen through the lens of the mc and uc neglect the structural causes of poverty that were not discovered until the 1900s

Historiography - Henry Pelling (1968)

Wc rejected state welfare until after 1906

Historiography - Pat Thane (1984)

wc support for state welfare increased with the chances of Labour gaining power

Historiography - Frank Prochaska (1990)

mc philanthropy very useful for wc poor

Historiography - Paul Addison (1994)

War made government more willing to intervene because it was a 'peoples war', this expectation continued after the war as people expected to be rewarded for their efforts.

Historiography - David Edgerton (2005)

B was a warfare state - continued to spend heavily on armaments but both wars increased spending on welfare (e.g. medicine)

Charlotte Greenhalgh

Elderly treated terribly throughout the 20thC and neglected by the state.

Nicholas Crawson

Not yet published - gap in the historiography -> Not homeless by choice, NPL works poorly for them.

Orwell quote on poverty

'A man who has gone a week on only bread and margarine is no longer a man, only a belly with a collection of organs'.

New Poor Law - P

The New Poor Law was hugely inadequate and did not adress the root causes of poverty

New Poor Law - E (4)

1) Welsh Guardians wanted to reduce the salaries of Poor Law officials. Tory Radical Richard Oastler 'prisons for the poor'

2) 1837 Anti-poor law poster and press reports (biased though) Andover workhouse reports of workers eating the flesh off of crushed bones

3) Central government grants for workhouse teachers after 1846 improved educational standards in workhouses, often surpassing the quality of education in neighbouring rural schools

4) Bolton 1842 report - average more than 3 a bed in the workhouse

5) Nicholas Crawson's recent work has shown that many of the poor people in this period were not homeless by choice but had 'complex trauma' (ill health, both physical and mental, disability, addictions, and relationship breakdowns)

New Poor Law - A

- Poor Law's emphasis on providing food and relief ignored the structural issues of poverty and unemployment. Workers wages were too low and the labour market was too inconsistent

- Martin Daunton, ‘it marked the triumph of ideology over social reality.’

- The fact that the poor law was reformed so quickly after its inactment indicates its structural failures

Urbanisation - P

Urbanisation had positive and negative effects on poverty

Urbanisation - E (4)

1) London 3,800,0000 inhabitants by 1881. Cesspools and Sewage directly linked to Thames where water was collected. Up to 12 people per bedroom and communicable disease

2) City of Westminster Health Society's - Rickets in 1/4 of 1-2 year olds in 1912 and 13 due to poor diets

3) Orwell and Engels similar descriptions of London and Manchester one century apart (marxist bias) show stagnant living standards

4) ILN celebrated installation of first public drinking fountain in London in 1859

Urbanisation - A

- Trapped in poverty cycle, poor productivity which could keep workers out of employment and cause low wages, causing the cycle to repeat

- Urbanisation also led to greater recognition of issue of poverty. Growth of state institutions like hospitals and first public drinking fountain in london in 1859

- Local government act 1894, workers shared grievances and pushed for greater local reforms to deal with poverty.

Wc self-help - P

Workers believed in self-help and used their networks to overcome poverty

Wc self-help - E (5)

1) Friendly societies had about 5.6 million members in B in 1900. Meeting records show that self-help preferable to state provision

2) w/c charities like soup kitchens and 1844 Rochdale Pioneers co-operative stores, 1,400 by 1900

3) TUC founded 1868, unions more affiliated with Labour into the 1880s, increased collective bargaining led to higher wages.

4) G. D. H. Cole's survey of 1942 - 'perverse pride' in rejecting state welfare.

5) Samuel Smiles - Self-help (1859) encourages thrift and argues that people can improve their situations without the state

Wc self-help - A (2)

- Hs have dedicated too much focus to the poor laws. Workers relied on their own close familial networks and thrift to survive

- Workers were accepting of policies that allowed for a high degree of participatory democracy and self-help but not ones that were intrusive

Workers began to accept state welfare - P

The combination of growing socialism and the succesful reforms from the Liberals in 1906 led to greater acceptance to state welfare

Workers began to accept state welfare - E

1) Ancient Order of Foresters (660,000 members) opposed state welfare until 1904 on ground that reform proposals were means of evading the just demands of the working class for higher wages and regular work.

2) 1870 Education Act attempted to make education compulsory, which 1876 did more concretely

3) Contagious Diseases Acts (1864-69) women suspected of prostitution could be stopped and searched for venereal diseases

Workers began to accept state welfare - A (3)

- dislike of state welfare arose from a rooted preference for independence and self-help, they were suspicious of the state as a complex of institutions run by the rich

- Once more wc people entered government (e.g. Jr Clynes) and greater wc representation, reforms were welcomed as they came from the wc not the mc, aligning with self-help principles

- wc support for the welfare state increased with labour's chances of attaining local and central power and after state intervention under New Liberalism brought tangible benefits

Mc philanthropy - P

It did help the poor despite it being driven by alternative motives

mc philanthropy - E (4)

1) Frank Prochaska's study of 1890s mc houses reveals that, excluding food, they spent more on philanthropy than any other item on their budget and sums far exceeded gov expenditure on poor relief.

2) Caroline Coleman founded Sunday schools and supported various national charities and hospitals, improving literacy rates for children.

3) COS founded in 1869 -> 20,000 women were employed in official charity work by the 20th century, one of the leading professions for women.

4) 1,000 begging-letters written a day to the rich in 1838 London - clearly understand generosity of the mc

mc philanthropy - A (5)

- Derek Fraser, worst indoor conditions were not to be found in workhouses but in parochial institutions.

- Orwell contends that support from parishes and charity was often viewed with suspicion and that the mc was trying to suppress the mob i.e. give some alms and support to prevent the mob from threatening the hierarchy.

- viewed the poor as morally inferior and dependent and the support did not actually aim to defeat the roots of poverty (bc they wanted to maintain status quo)

- Education provisions helped to improve the literacy rates creating employment opportunities for some poor people

- Ultimately down to religious and paternalistic motiviations, Christian duty to assist the less fortunate, act of charity and a way to instil moral values like thrift and obedience.

wwii's impact - P

wwii led to a leftward shift in political ideology that would last the following decade

wwii's impact - E (5)

1) Beveridge Report comissioned 1941 to support people from cradle to grave, proposed more generous state pensions and family allowances funded from general taxation.

2) From 1922 to 1938, an average of 22.1% of the population received a benefit payment at some point during the year.

3) Public expenditure on education rose from 2.1% of GDP in 1938 to 3.2% in 1951

4) Keynes given his own room at the Treasury in 1940.

5) Education Act 1944, NHS 1948

wwii's impact - A

- Paul Addison - It was commissioned by the coalition government led by Churchill, indicating that all parties put aside their peacetime differences and there was a leftward shift as all governments referred to the war as a 'people's war', they all thought that the state should intervene more to reward the people and tackle poverty | new focus on reconstruction. More convincing than Kevin Jefferys - war accelerated existing trends.

- Keyne's theory gained more weight, there will always be inequality, the focus should be on ensuring we try to main full employment

- before the war there was a spirit of parsimony and caution and governments were careful with spending and hesitant to take action. Wartime required bold and confident management of resources, demonstrating that the gov could manage large sale efforts

Elite misconceptions of poverty - P

Attitudes of liberal economics and self-help from the elites shaped the lives of the poor

Elite misconceptions of poverty - E

1) Malthus believed old poor law depressed general condition of the poor by allowing for marriages and increased population rather than food supply. Swing riots 1830 against mechanisation of agriculture. Contemporaries argued that these riots occurred in areas with wage subsidies.

2) Government records state that Trevelyan held that the effects of Irish famine should not be too thoroughly mitigated by B aid, so that its victims might learn their lessons. Irish paid as much for relief as the British, with £7mn raised from poor rates vs £8mn spent by the treasury (terry eagleton genocide)

3) NPL 1834 split up families as they viewed poverty as communicable, split up deserving (outside) and undeserving (inside)

4) P.O.S.Bs, in 1899, 83% of these were for accounts under £25, average savings of £5. Interest rates were 2.5%, lower than consols in 50/53 years and poor people had to wait almost a week to withdraw sums. For the rich, it was instant. Gladstone - "the less the depositors knew about anything else the better"

Elite misconceptions of poverty - A (3)

- self-help, poor should not rely on aid from those above them and they were expected to find their own ways out of hardship and their real issues like wages were ignored.

- Elites believed in liberal economics, the mc emerged from industrialisation and saw themselves as having evolved, this gave them the idea that anyone could improve their condition if they stopped being lazy

- Swing riots and fear of the mob - mc and uc thought that riots were triggered by wage subsidies making workers idle, lazy, and dangerous - only the truly 'deserving' should be provided relief. Orwell - welfare provisions would not solve poverty but would satisfy the mob and prevent rebellion

Lifecycle poverty - P

Attitudes around poverty changed with the discovery of lifecycle poverty. Viewed as a behavioural issue to a structural one

Lifecycle poverty - E (5)

1) 1894 Local Government Act - wc and some women can vote for and become Poor Law Guardians.

2) Work of social scientists like Seebohm Rowntree's study of York in 1901 found that 30% of population were living below the poverty line - Discovery of lifecycle poverty. 1951 survey - only 4.8% of wc households

3) LRC election addresses in 1906 - 84% of candidates mention unemployment as an issue, liberals only 41% and 98% mentioned free trade (middle class) but within 10 years, Liberals begin to implement radical reforms like 1908 OAPs and 1911 National insurance.

4) Days lost to strike doubled from 2.9mn to 5.8mn between 1915 and 1918 and union membership increased 275% between 1906-1919, from 2.1mn to 7.9mn

5) Between 1901-11 real wages less than 90% of 1889-1901

Lifecycle poverty - A (5)

- New Liberalism - state welfare and intervention to improve welfare but also importance of personal liberty.

- Discovery of lifecyle poverty changed the perception of poverty as a behavioural one to a structural issue, if wages were low then people are going to be in poverty regardless of behavioural factors

- This, alongside increases in socialism and unionism, drove the Liberals to make effective policy changes addressing poverty.

- Liberals recognised that Labour may become the larger party in the progressive alliance and thus enacted more wc and socialist reforms - They need to address poverty differently if they want support of wc and stay more dominant than Labour

- Parties have to adapt to lifecycle poverty thinking to encompass the wc who will be enfranchised after the war.

- Though this added to rather than displaced older ideas about the undeserving poor (as Engels vs Orwell shows)

Labour Market inconsistency - P

Labour market was inconsistent and discriminatory to women, creating economic uncertainty and hardship for women

Uncertainty of the labour market - E (4)

1) Women paid ½ to ⅔ wages for the same job as men in 19th century.

2) Between 1901-11 real wages less than 90% of 1889-1901

3) Salford Mother's Guild 1933 - mother's starving themselves to feed their children.

Autobiographies of mothers in 1915 - men overspending on leisure.

4) Henry Broadhurst - leader of TUC n 1875 - 'the goal of the labour movement must be to bring about a condition where wives and daughters would be in their proper sphere at home'

Uncertainty of the labour market - A (4)

- Lives of poor women were especially challenging, they had to feed children, manage the household, sometimes enter paid work or engage in subsistence work and live up to victorian ideals of sexuality

- Working men, due to the uncertainty of the labour market, feared that women, as cheap labour, would take 'their' work, they campaigned using the separate sphere model to confine women to the household and to bargain for higher wages to provide for their families

- Mothers had to live up to the victorian ideals of self-reliance, putting their children first. Their housework was not regarded as real work, we know this because contemporary surveys do not include female housework as official employment

- Poor women, especially single mothers, were often stigmatized as immoral or lazy. Victorian ideals of womanhood were rooted in domesticity, making poverty seem like a personal failing rather than a systemic issue.

Adequacy for who? - P

State provision of welfare may have improved for the working class in this period, but not for those suffering the most

Adequacy for who? - E (4)

1) 1896, Alfred Draper was found guilty (under the 1824 Vagrancy Act) of begging alms in nearby Humberstone. The judicial system felt no need to understand, or explain, how or why Alfred found himself to be begging.

But, unstable family and upbringing - Dad was an abuser and in-and-out of jail.

2) 92 year old male living in an elderly home in London mid-20thC 'You have to go where you're put. I have to do what I'm told to. I suppose I've no complaint of this place, and if I did, they'd tell me to get out'

3) Similarities between Frienrich Engels' and George Orwells' accounts despite being written a century apart.

4) Orwell - in the first homeless shelter two tenants had not changed clothes in 4 years

Adequacy for who? - A (5)

So yes - we've got a progressive story but if you are old and sick you are stuck in these miserable institutions.

Nicholas Crawson soon-to-be published work on homelessness also indicates that the state thought the tramp was a dying phenomenon by 1951, but the reality was very different and not much had changed.

The line between being deserving of sympathy and support and enduring the moral repugnance of society was a fine one.

The historiography surrounding poverty focuses on the new, shiny forms of welfare, failing to focus on the residuals and continuities like the inadequate welfare for the mentally ill and disabled.

Behind such stereotypes lay fear: fear that the tramp threatened the established Victorian trinity of work, respectability, and religion.

Experiences of poverty differed regionally - P

The experiences of the poor differed hugely depending on regions and the 'poor' cannot be viewed as one entity

Experiences of poverty differed regionally - E

1) Scotland New Poor Law implemented 11 years after England's provided no support for able-bodied paupers

2) Ireland's potato blight in 1845, 1.5 million deaths, the workhouse system was especially poor here, in Connacht it was one relief individual per family on the works, in Dublin it was one relief individual for every 16 families

3) Glasgow public assistance committee ran by socialists provided relief of 35 shillings a week per married couple, other regions offered as low as 12 shillings.

Experiences of poverty differed regionally - A (3)

- The government often drew up policies in regard to E, paying little attention to the regional variations in other parts of 'B'. Harsher stance to Scotland

- Political attitude of Westminster and Whitehall was one of cost-minimisation and some historians think that politicians viewed it more as a colony than an integral part of Britain

- Poor Law relied on the poor rates. Poorer regions generated less funding and therefore offered worse relief

Economic growth - P

Economic growth is often an overlooked cause of poverty alleviation in this period

Economic growth - E (4)

1) GDP per capita increased by double between 1830 and 1951

2) GDP increased 10 fold between 1700 and 1870

3) Importation of wheat increased by 90% between 1871 and 1900 due to repeal of corn laws and free trade in agriculture

4) 88% of the funding for the NHS Act 1948 came from progressive taxation. Those gentlemanly capitalists were providing for others.

Economic growth - A (4)

- Clark Nardinelli, rise in male wages reduced need for child labour

- Higher wages adressed the root causes of poverty. People could buy more food and contraceptives, reducing the birth rate and thus communicable diseases.

- Social historians that discuss leisure often fail to recognise that leisure was a way for men to stay updated about the labour market, also reducing unemployment and poverty as higher wages allowed greater access to leisure.

- Even the welfare state was funded by the economic growth of the previous centuries.