The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

Helping the Poor

The persistence of poverty remains one of the most fundamental challenge facing human societies in both the developed and emerging worlds. A series of key developments in England during the 16^th century including the prohibition of the Roman Catholic Church by King Henry VII, plague epidemics, the rise of mercantilism, demographic changes due to migration and ongoing conflicts and way triggered significant changes to the structure of social life, leading to high rates of poverty. Earlier research on poverty indicates that a series of large-scale interventions such as the implementation of the Elizabethan poor law, and numerous movements such as the Charity Organization Society (COS) and the Settlement Movement played a major role in tackling the problem of extreme poverty in England (Henrickson, 2022)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion. In this critical learning essay and discussion, strong emphasis is placed on examining the rise of the ‘under-privileged and the ill-begotten’ as state responsibility after the 1600s.

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Main Discussion

Codified in 1597-98, the Elizabethan Poor Laws encompasses a series of legislative interventions introduced by Queen Elizabeth to tackle the growing issue of unemployment, economic stagnation and prevalent famine. This legislation provided for both outdoor and indoor relief, and sought to boost the provision of assistance to the poor through collection of a poor relief rate from property owners, provision of aid relief and creation of employment or work-related activities (McIntosh, 2013). Yerli (2022) observed that the enactment of the Elizabethan Poor Law proved a major turning point in positioning the government as a key party tasked with providing relief for the poor within the three major categories of dependents namely: the involuntary unemployed, the vagrant and the helpless. Stears (2002) established that the Elizabethan Poor Law introduced a set of indoor and outdoor relief measures and social policies aimed at ensuring the ‘deserving poor’ are relived of absolute destitution. Similar sentiments are shared by Alfani et al. 2022) who argued that the 1601 poor law paved the way for increased taxation by the local government in order at raising the requisite funds for creating and maintaining almshouses; offering indoor relief (such as sustenance in the form of food, clothes or cash) for the handicapped the aged and other worthy poor (idle poor, impotent poor, poor children; and the mobilization of resources (e.g. materials, tools, equipment) for putting the unemployed (able-bodied poor) to work. With regards to indoor relief, the 1601 poor law requires that the deserving poor to be recruited into the local almshouse, the ill to be admitted to the hospital, the idle poor to be taken into workhouses or poorhouses to engage in productive activity, and orphans to be given a placement in the orphanage (McIntosh, 2013)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion. Equally, the poor laws also introduced the imposition of mandatory apprenticeships for children who did receive support from parents, and the fining or placement of any-bodied person and vagrant to a house of correcting upon refusal to engage in work-related activities (Henrickson, 2022). Other key developments associated with the enforcement of the Elizabethan poor law included the introduction of workhouses/poorhouses for the able-bodied, and the establishment of hospitals for persons with physical disabilities, infant poor, and others considered to be weak or elderly (Yerli, 2022). Although the Elizabethan poor law was widely deemed to be suitable for the British society of the time, the shortcomings of this legislative intervention paved the way for implementation of other legislations and institutional measures aimed at helping the poor.

The enactment of the Settlement and Removal law in 1662 marked a step aimed at limiting the provision of aid by the local government and parish organizations only to persons and families identified as ‘residents.’ Katz (1998) mentioned that the Settlement Act of 1662 gave powers to the Overseers of the home parish organizations to withdraw relief assistance to individuals considered to be a burden on the limited financial resources put aside for poor relief. Similar to the poor laws, James (1996) explained that the Settlement Act of 1697 was enforced in response to the growing number of dependent individuals who moved to other parishes in pursuit of more substantial financial assistance, and hence the subsequent rise in expenditures on public relief paved the way for additional institutional and legislative measures to reform the system of public welfare services in England. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

Equally, the contributions of the Charity Organization Society (COS) in the fight against poverty in the late 19^th century remain integral to the provision of relief to the poor. Kidd (1997) explained that the Charity organization movement of the 1880s generated what is described as days “full of hope for humanity” through implementation of charity-oriented programs and initiatives aimed at the eradication of pauperism and enhanced coordination of welfare services. Established in 1869, the Charity Organization Society sought to trigger a paradigm shift in the manner in which indoor and outdoor relief measures were implemented, and the greater need for a comprehensive policy of ensuring the eligibility requirements are fully met prior to the provision of relief to those considered as the deserving poor (Henrickson, 2022). Similarly, Skinner and Thomas (2017) noted that the COS sought to respond to the distinct needs of the target persons through involvement in philanthropic actions aimed at solving social problems through coordination of activities of various relief agencies or bodies engaged in the delivery of assistance, both public and charitable support. As such, the Charity Organization Society focused on linking applicants to gain access to appropriate welfare service providers through the collection of accurate information about the applicants, conducting background checks with employers and landlord and reporting to the COS district committees (Henrickson, 2022). The operations of the COS helped to strengthen the provision of voluntary assistance to the poor through strong focus social work practices that favored holistic, scientific intervention to the alleviation of poverty (Kidd, 1997). Moreover, the activities of the Charity Organization Society paved the way for the social reforms aimed at increasing the sources of funds, changes to the eligibility criteria for the underserving and deserving, boosting the ability to organize charity, and conducting careful investigations to determine the severity of circumstances experienced by the people and families covered under the COS approach (McIntosh, 2013). Therefore, strong emphasis on achieving self-reliance and independence from direct relief was primarily informed by the greater need to demolish the cycle of poverty that had engulfed a significant portion of individuals categorized as deviant, distressed or poor (Skinner & Thomas, 2017)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion. However, the COS was heavily criticized for its hard-heartedness, and its alleged position as the epitome of everything that was paternalistic, cruel and judgmental in government welfare policy.

The settlement movement is also another key development that began in the 1880s to the early 1920s in the UK and the United States. Köngeter (2020) explained that the settlement movement sought to bridge the gap between the rich and poor of society through the creation of ‘settlement houses’ in poor urban environments for housing middle-class workers and for addressing the poverty of their neighbors in the low socio-economic backgrounds. Similarly, Katz (1998) added that the approaches employed by the settlement movement sought to capture the social, educational, health and economic aspects of poverty by offering related services within these settlement houses. Whilst the movement favored a more collectivist approach, it essentially sought to implement a series of social policy innovations and initiatives aimed at enhancing the conditions of the poor members of society (Köngeter, 2020)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion. As such, the dispensation of voluntary charity by the movement was centered in the creation of neighborhoods that are self-supporting and self-determining, and capable of implementing neighborhood-focused programs on the alleviation of poverty.

Reflection

This analysis has greatly deepened my knowledge and understanding of current human service delivery models. First, the key provisions of the Elizabethan poor law have played a major role in influencing the various reforms aimed at boosting the provision of relief to the poor. Moreover, the Elizabethan legislation inspired the implementation of client-centered interventions aimed at tackling the causes and effects of poverty, and this is well reflected in the contemporary models of social work practice (Henrickson, 2022). McIntosh (2013) explained that the humanistic clauses of the poor law helped to reinforce the centrality of the State as a key actor in the fight against poverty and unemployment as pertinent societal problems facing millions of people in the welfare state. Equally, the development of contemporary welfare structures was also reinforced by the increase in government taxation, and the pursuit of welfare reforms aimed at expanding the delivery of welfare services to assist those who are most vulnerable to the plight of extreme poverty. Yerli (2022) commented that a number of key measures such as the development of settlement houses, provision of voluntary assistance and financial support to the poor. In this case, the contemporary welfare system appears to consider poverty as a complex phenomenon attributed to a myriad of socio-economic, geographical, historical and structural factors. Equally, the operations of the Charity Organization Society also paved the way for the adoption of scientific principles to bolster the allocation of relief, enhance the recruitment of eligible persons, and inspire the rise of the welfare state (Kidd, 1997)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion. Theretofore, the legislative and institutional changes witnessed since the enactment of the Elizabethan poor law, the formation of the Charity Organization Society and the rise of the Settlement Movement have since played an instrumental role in shaping the contemporary social work practices and policies on poverty reduction and elimination (Köngeter, 2020). These findings reinforces the greater need for providing holistic, customized and client-centered social services and social policy interventions for those categorized as dependents with the core intention of improving their standards of living and quality of life.

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Conclusion

The paper attempted to explore some of the legislative and institutional developments aimed at the alleviation of poverty in the United Kingdom since the early 1600s to the present day. A number of key developments including the implementation of the Elizabethan poor law, the Charity Organization Society and Settlement movement had profound impact on the fight against poverty amidst the mixed outcomes. The knowledge acquired about these key developments can be used to inform a better understanding of the modern welfare service delivery models, policies and practices.

References

Alfani, G., Ammannati, F., & Ryckbosch, W., (2022).Poverty in early modern Europe: New approaches to old problems. Economic Inequality across Italy and Europe, 1300-1800 (EINITE)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion.

Henrickson, M. (2022).The Origins of Social Care and Social Work Creating a Global Future. Research in Social Work, pp.121-153.DOI: https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447357377.ch006

James, C. E., (1996). Perspectives on racism and the human services sector: A case for change. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Katz, M. (1998). “Surviving Poverty—Three New York Stories,” in Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, the “Underclass,” and Urban Schools in History, pp. 157–172.

Kidd,A. (1997). “Charity Organization Society.” Chapter 3 in State, Society, & the Poor in Nineteenth-century England, pp.97–107.

Köngeter, S. (2020). A brief transnational history of the settlement house movement. The Settlement House Movement Revisited, 15-34. https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447354239.003.0002

McIntosh, M. K. (2013).Poor relief in Elizabethan English communities: An analysis of collectors’ accounts. The Economic History Review, 67(2), 331-357. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.12022

Skinner, A., & Thomas, N. (2017).‘A pest to society’: the Charity Organization Society’s domiciliary assessments into the circumstances of poor families and children. Children & Society, 1-17. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/19601/ The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

Readings

Paul Slack, “The Common Weal,” Chapter 1, in From Reformation to Improvement: Public Welfare in Early Modern England, pp. 1–28

Ben Carniol, “Roots: Early Attitudes,” Chapter 2 (first section) in Case Critical: Social Services and Social Justice in Canada (5th ed.), pp. 35–42

Parks Canada, “Workers Prior to 1850” (Page 1)

Joanne Turner, “The Historical Base,” Chapter 5, in Canadian Social Welfare, pp. 51–59

Dennis Guest, “The Colonial Inheritance,” Chapter 2, in The Emergence of Social Security in Canada pp. 11–19

Keith D. Smith, “The Liberal Surveillance Complex,” Chapter 1, in Liberalism, Surveillance and Resistance: Indigenous Communities in Western Canada, 1877–1927, pp. 1–27

James, C. E., (Ed.). (1996). Perspectives on racism and the human services sector: A case for change. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Yates, J. V. N. (1824). Report of the Secretary of State in 1824 on the relief and settlement of the poor. New York: Secretary of State, New York.

Key Terms and Concepts

Elizabethan Poor Law. Although English poor law began with the initiatives of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558–1603, codified the rules, regulations, and procedures that had been enacted up until 1601.

Codify. Even though parliament had only been in existence for three hundred years, governments already practiced the classification and arrangement of rules and laws into systematic collections, known as codes, by 1601. In this way, the clerks, sheriffs, and local parish authorities could read the directions of the government on how to set up the local parish organization to deal with the poor, who was to do what (and how to do it)The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion, as well as how people in different circumstances should be classified and dealt with in each case.

Relief. Measures to be taken for the relief of the dependant poor. These measures ranged from short-term assistance to providing food to housing and total care. In early England, relief was financed and administered by the most local unit of government, the parish. Parish authorities were responsible to the central government, which issued the code of standards that guided the local functionaries.

Welfare State. Dennis Guest (1997) explains the historical significance of the Poor Law and its influence on future developments this way: “In affirming a public, tax-supported system for the relief of destitution, the march toward the welfare state had begun” (p. 12). Since 1601, England and the colonies have used state policy to provide services and supports in good times and bad according to the sentiments of the powerful forces of opinion of the day. In sum, those aspects of state governance that use public resources grounded in human services policy to address the needs of disadvantaged people are often referred to as the welfare state. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

STUDY GUIDE

Unit 4 Elizabethan Poor Law and the Colonies

Study Questions

1. Characterize the main features of living conditions in recently industrialized cities in North America in the late nineteenth century.
2. What ideological approach to human service provision did the Charity Organisation Societies adopt first in Britain and then in the US and Canada, and why?
3. Evaluate the strengths and drawbacks of the settlement movement as developed by the progressives? The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

STUDY GUIDE

Unit 4 Elizabethan Poor Law and the Colonies

Overview

In Units 4 and 5, in order to trace the development of current policy, the ideas that shape the possibilities of human services policy through history are explored. The impact of those ideas is analyzed in the earliest stages of European colonization in Canada and the United States.

Prior to the reign of King Henry VIII (1509–1547), policy was not clearly and systematically articulated in England. The King’s court had a clerical function and rudimentary records were kept. Proclamations were hand-printed and the first legislative assembly depended on clerks of the King’s court to keep records. These people had great responsibilities because a small staff of government lawyers and bureaucrats carried out the wishes of the king and members of Parliament. England’s history of democratic law-making initially took shape with the signing of the Magna Carta (Great Charter) in 1215. Aristocrats forced unpopular King John to recognize that the rule of law would prevail over royal decree. In 1295, a legislative assembly, the first parliament, was created. Made up of the aristocratic families of England, the legislature began to establish laws and supported them through enforcement. Some written records were kept, but social arrangements remained unstable for several centuries as improvements gradually emerged. Very few people were literate apart from church clerics and court clerks. Commoners in need of assistance had few ways to obtain support. Crime, charity, and begging were the best that most people could do to help themselves. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

The expectation, in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England, was that family and the church would see to the needs of the sick, the mentally ill, the aged, and the destitute. When the plague decimated the population, the only legislation to remediate its effects introduced restrictions on mobility as if that measure alone could curb transmission of the disease. Severe penalties awaited vagrants and charity was the sole policy instrument that responded to the needs of the poor. You will notice in the next unit that libertarian notions of governance follow the precedent of having the poor provide for themselves. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

King Henry VIII, and later his daughter, Elizabeth I introduced legislation that included minimum standards for the care of destitute people in local parishes. This early initiative suggests a centrist-liberal commitment for the use of tax-based resources to address the needs of the poor. In later units we will discuss how progressive policy initiatives evolved over time into policies that emphasized equality. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Units 4 you will be able to

1. discuss the factors that shaped the creation of the first poor laws in England.
2. summarize and critique early European social programs, particularly ones that were imported to the New World.
3. analyze the impact of the ideas of Adam Smith and the libertarians on early colonial responses to the needs of impoverished people.
4. compare the colonial approaches of Canada and the United States toward Aboriginal peoples.
5. STUDY GUIDE
6. Unit 5Industrialization and Social Policy The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

7. Overview

8. In the colonial periods of Canada and the United States, land policies shunted the original inhabitants aside and attempted to build a new nation based on individualism. Individualism assumed that all citizens had the opportunity to own land and be economically self-sufficient. The serious business of clearing the land and making it productive occupied the settlers, many of whom were quite isolated in the early years.
9. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, trade and industrialization were fast replacing the agricultural ethic of many of the North American colonies. Cities and towns were established beside rivers that could drive the turbines and mills of factories. Canals were built to transport people, materials, and products. This activity foreshadowed the geographic disbursement of future trade and manufacturing that benefited from the invention of electricity and motorized vehicles to transfer goods by railroad and highway later in the century.
10. All of these innovations required a great influx of people to run the new machines and build networks of roads, canals, and rails. Most of these immigrants were labourers from China, Ireland, and other nations. Their labour built the cities and towns. Urbanization placed additional demands on the poor laws and almshouses. Charitable organizations were quickly overwhelmed by the massive problems in city slums, even though churches and ethnic, mutual-support societies did what they could to meet new needs. In 1873, there was a crippling recession in the fledgling industrial economy, with high unemployment, hunger in the cities, and inadequate relief measures.
11. This time there were two fundamentally different responses: both contributed to the founding of human services. One was conservative, and involved the co-ordination of resources and the teaching of moral improvement. The other was liberal-progressive and attempted to give people the capacities for self-help and mutual aid through schooling and advocacy. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion

Reference

12. Michael Katz, “The Poorhouse Era,” in Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, the “Underclass,” and Urban Schools in History, pp. 31–59
13. Alan Kidd, “Charity Organisation Society” Chapter 3 in State, Society, & the Poor in Nineteenth-century England, 97–107
14. Stears, M., (2002). Progressives, pluralists, and the problems of the state: Ideologies of reform in the United States and Britain, 1909–1926. New York:Oxford University
15. Michael Katz, “Surviving Poverty—Three New York Stories,” in Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, the “Underclass,” and Urban Schools in History, pp. 157–172
16. Ben Carniol, “Roots: Early Attitudes—Social Work: The Beginnings,” Chapter 2 in Case Critical: Social Services and Social Justice in Canada(5th ed.), pp. 42–52
17. George, V., & Wilding, P. (1976). Ideology and social welfare. New York: Routledge.

 

18. Parks Canada, “The Rise of Factories, 1850–1895,” p. 2; “Monopoly Capitalism, Unions, and Social Reform, 1896–1939,” p. 3; and “Workers and the State” (Including Government, Courts, Military, and the Police, p. 7 ) The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion
19. Dennis Guest, “The 1920s: No priorities for welfare,” Chapter 6, in The Emergence of Social Security in Canada, pp. 65–82

Rodgers, D. T. (1998). Atlantic crossings: Social politics in a progressive age. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

Wilensky, H. L., & Lebeaux, C. N. (1965). The industrial revolution: Traditional indictment and defense. In Industrial society and social welfare (pp. 27–32). New York: Free Press.

 

Key concepts

20. The sense of beneficence to neighbours, giving to the needy, often with reference to the Bible. Giving to charity from one’s private resources is considered worthy of praise. The voluntary nature of donating to charity contrasts sharply to tax–based or state welfare. The apparent praiseworthiness of charity (from the giver’s point of view) is tempered by our knowledge of the experiences of those who, as recipients, deal regularly with charitable institutions. Williams (1976) refers to the feelings of wounded pride and self–respect, of being “one–down” in the charitable relationship (p. 55). Charity is often seen, not as neighbourly love but as a reward for approved social conduct. Therefore, the idea of the deserving poor is at once benevolent, paradoxical, and demeaning. For example, you can have enough sustenance to help you survive, but you must also want to work but be unable to do so. This approach to human services provision is sometimes referred to as “the charity model of welfare.” The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay Discussion
21. Originally a term that indicated happiness and a sense of prosperity. In the twentieth century, welfare took on some of the pejorative senses of charity. Welfare policy surfaced in 1905, well before the term “welfare state” was coined in 1939. Welfare now generally refers to institutions and their programs, funded by the state, which aim to address some of the needs of the underprivileged.
    

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• Based on the fundamentally collective idea that many will pool their resources to cover the loss of any fellow members of the society or association who participate and are deemed eligible under the terms of a policy or contract. In recent times, insurance has become more corporate-driven by profit as its primary purpose, rather than mutual support. Governments adapted insurance-like approaches in dealing with human services policy issues beginning in the late nineteenth century. The state and participants in welfare programs paid contributions to private corporations to provide benefits for unemployed and injured workers, for example. This system created arms-length relationships for state support in areas of emerging need. Insured workers were policyholders who had the dignity of rights as premium-contributing participants, rather than having to subject themselves to charity or welfare for the underprivileged.

Study questions

23. Describe the assessment criteria used by “Friendly Visitors” of the Charity Organization Societies when they dropped in on their clients.
24. Explain how the settlement workers assessed needs in the community by living and working alongside local residents.
25. Outline the effects industrialization had on state policy and its challenge to private charity in the early twentieth century. The Alleviation Of Poverty Essay DiscussionLength: Part 1 is a 1500-word essay (approximately 6 double-spaced pages, not including cover page or reference pages),
    Because these topics are very broad your immediate first task will be to narrow down your chosen topic into a focused and detailed essay, being specific about which readings and which ideas have been influential in forming your conclusion and why.

    Consult at least five scholarly articles or books (preferably, a combination of both). At least three of the sources for each essay must be from the textbook or assigned readings.

    Due: When you have completed Unit 5.

    This activity covers materials learned in Part 2 of the course content, Units 4 and 5.

    Part 1: Essay
    This assignment requires you to write one critical review essay using learning drawn from the course materials, that is, the assigned readings, excluding the Study Guide. It builds on the pedagogical approach developed in Part 1 of the course. The essay should cite several of the most important ideas from the assigned readings and bring additional support to bear that your research has identified.

    The essay must make use of the course materials to answer one the following questions:

    Discuss the Elizabethan Poor Law, Charity Organization Society, and Settlement Movement approaches to serving the poor and provide examples of how each are reflected in the system of outdoor and indoor relief that remain intact today. Provide insights on how this analysis has deepened your knowledge of current human service delivery models.

    Because these topics are very broad your immediate first task will be to narrow down your chosen topic into a focused and detailed essay, being specific about which readings and which ideas have been influential in forming your conclusion and why.

    Consult at least five scholarly articles or books (preferably, a combination of both). At least three of the sources for each essay must be from the textbook or assigned readings.