This is the story of a set of ideas that, in Britain and the United States, have dominated public opinion and public policy on the subject of poverty for nearly two centuries. From the beginnings of social science in Britain, these ideas have shaped the methods of poverty researchers. In their role as experts, these poverty researchers have in turn shaped the public debate on social welfare. They were among the founders of British social science, yet their writings on the poor have never been systematically examined to see how they obtained their information. This work does just that, tracing the influence of religious and economic ideas on their research about 'slum mothers'. Some of their names are well known: Charles Booth, Beatrice Webb, Malthus. Others, while less famous, were nonetheless influential in setting the agenda for poverty research down to the present day. But did they get it right?
'...a bold and timely work of cultural history...this tightly-structured study makes for stimulating and suggestive reading...in terms of a combative and thought-provoking contribution to current welfare debate, I suggest that this book merits a much wider audience.' - Victoria Le Fevre, Reviews in History
Prologue: Victorian Social Science in a Twentieth-Century World
Introduction to Victorian Poverty Studies
Two Royal Commissions
Protestant Paradigms in Victorian Poverty Studies
Political Economy and the New Poor Law
From Political Economy to Social Science
Ignoble Savages on Relief: Social Darwinism in Late Victorian Poverty Studies
Science and Pseudoscience in Victorian and Edwardian Poverty Studies
Three Case Studies in a priori Social Science
Unanswered Questions, Unasked Questions, and an Experimental Counter-Hypothesis
Why Critique the Victorian Social Science of Poverty?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
KATHLEEN CALLANAN MARTIN is Professor in the College of General Studies at Boston University, USA. Drawing on her background in both sociology and history, she examines in her research the interplay of culture, theory and methodology in social science. She received her MA in Sociology from Ohio State University and her PhD in Comparative History from Brandeis University.
Description
This is the story of a set of ideas that, in Britain and the United States, have dominated public opinion and public policy on the subject of poverty for nearly two centuries. From the beginnings of social science in Britain, these ideas have shaped the methods of poverty researchers. In their role as experts, these poverty researchers have in turn shaped the public debate on social welfare. They were among the founders of British social science, yet their writings on the poor have never been systematically examined to see how they obtained their information. This work does just that, tracing the influence of religious and economic ideas on their research about 'slum mothers'. Some of their names are well known: Charles Booth, Beatrice Webb, Malthus. Others, while less famous, were nonetheless influential in setting the agenda for poverty research down to the present day. But did they get it right?
Reviews
'...a bold and timely work of cultural history...this tightly-structured study makes for stimulating and suggestive reading...in terms of a combative and thought-provoking contribution to current welfare debate, I suggest that this book merits a much wider audience.' - Victoria Le Fevre, Reviews in History
Contents
Prologue: Victorian Social Science in a Twentieth-Century World
Introduction to Victorian Poverty Studies
Two Royal Commissions
Protestant Paradigms in Victorian Poverty Studies
Political Economy and the New Poor Law
From Political Economy to Social Science
Ignoble Savages on Relief: Social Darwinism in Late Victorian Poverty Studies
Science and Pseudoscience in Victorian and Edwardian Poverty Studies
Three Case Studies in a priori Social Science
Unanswered Questions, Unasked Questions, and an Experimental Counter-Hypothesis
Why Critique the Victorian Social Science of Poverty?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Authors
KATHLEEN CALLANAN MARTIN is Professor in the College of General Studies at Boston University, USA. Drawing on her background in both sociology and history, she examines in her research the interplay of culture, theory and methodology in social science. She received her MA in Sociology from Ohio State University and her PhD in Comparative History from Brandeis University.
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