The Solidarities of Strangers

The English Poor Laws and the People, 1700–1948

Lynn Hollen Lees author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:18th Jan '07

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The Solidarities of Strangers cover

A study of English policies toward the poor from the 1600s to the present, showing how clients and officials negotiated welfare settlements.

A study of English policies toward the poor from the 1600s to the present, Lees shows how clients and officials negotiated welfare settlements. Changing cultural definitions of entitlement, rather than available resources, determined amounts and beneficiaries, creating cycles of generosity and meanness that affected men and women unequally.The Solidarities of Strangers is a study of English policies toward the poor from the seventeenth century to the present that combines individual stories with official actions. Lynn Lees shows how clients as well as officials negotiated welfare settlements. Cultural definitions of entitlement, rather than available resources, determined amounts and beneficiaries. Indeed, industrialization and growing wealth went along with restricted payments to the needy, while universal allowances and insurance systems expanded as the economy faltered and world wars crippled budgets and drained resources. Although the English poor laws were a 'residualist' system, aiding the destitute when neither family nor charities covered needs, they went through cycles of generosity and meanness that affected men and women unequally. The long-term history of welfare in England and Wales has not been a story of continued progress and improvement but one determined by continually changing attitudes toward poverty.

'Lynn Hollen Lee's book puts flesh on the dry bones of poor law administration by citing human experiences … derived from a largely untapped wealth of local records, autobiographies and other personal testimony … this is a particularly timely book … [and] is of great value in making sense of the wide range of poor law research in recent years and in focusing on the human experience of public relief.' The Times Literary Supplement

ISBN: 9780521030663

Dimensions: 228mm x 152mm x 25mm

Weight: 586g

392 pages